Tony Workman Ministries: Speaking the Truth in Love

Jesus Is!

2012-02-08T22:39:00.001-08:00

Jesus is the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace! He is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley! He is the Most High God! He is the Great I Am! He is Alpha and Omega! He is the Thrice Holy God! He is the Lord our Provider, The Lord our Banner, The Lord who Healeth! He is the Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent God! He is Eternal and has had no beginning! He is our substitute! He is the propitiation for our sins! He is the Redeemer, He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and He is the defeater of Death! He is the Resurrection and the Life and He is the Only way to Heaven! He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He is in control of this world! He is the Triumphant King and the defeater of Satan and all his minions! His name is JESUS CHRIST, God in the flesh!

The Faithful Prayers of Righteous People Availeth Much!- Evangelist Tony Workman

2011-10-24T23:21:00.001-07:00

It is true that the faithful prayers of righteous people availeth much. Whenever we approach prayer, we need to to approach prayer with the utmost respect. There must be a fervency about our prayers and a expectation that God will answer our prayers. Our prayers must never be flippant. They must be serious and very direct. The Bible says that we should come boldly before the throne of grace. That means that whenever we pray we should be bold in whatever we are asking God to do. Now, we must always remember that when we pray we must always pray in accordance to God's will. Just because you might want a new house or a new car does not mean that God wants you to have it.

With that being said, what are the things we should pray for? First, we must pray for the lost. God loves a heart that is broken over lost people. When we pray for the lost we need to ask God to remove the blindness from their minds, we need to ask God to bring light into the darkness they are experiencing, we need to ask God to penetrate their hardened minds so their hearts will be open to the Gospel message, we need to ask God to deliver them from the spirit of disobedience, we need to ask God to take away any false sense of security they may be relying on.

Secondly, we must pray for fellow believers. We must pray for believers to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might! We must also pray for fellow believers who are not living for God like they should. We need to pray that God would will break through their apathetic and complacent behavior. We need to ask God to convict them of their sin and that their hearts would be turned once again to seeking after the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We need to pray that Christians would become obedient and assemble themselves all the more as they see the day approaching.

Thirdly, we must pray for our individual needs. Sometimes this is the hardest area for people. Sometimes we pray for God to remove a trial in our lives. But before we pray for God to remove the trial, we must ask ourselves a question. We must ask if we have done anything wrong that might have caused the trial. Sometimes trials are in our lives because of sin, but perhaps the trial is there for your betterment. Sometimes God places a trial in a Christian's life to help in the maturation process. If we have not sinned, we must consider that God has placed that trial in our lives not to hurt us but to help us. Sometimes the whole purpose of a trial is just to beat the me out of me. Just remember that the greatest trials that we face today can become our greatest triumphs for tomorrow. Do not lose hope if that is the case. Many men and women in the Bible had to face trials but God worked through that whole process in their lives and they came out as gold refined in the fire. So when you are going through a trial that is placed there by God, pray that God would give you the strength to get through the trial knowing that when you are through that trial, God will work it all out for the good (Romans 8:28).

Finally, and perhaps the most important, our prayers must magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. Our prayers should be filled with praise to the King of King and Lord of Lord's. We must let Him know on a day to day basis how thankful we are for the things we do have. Our prayers must be grateful. Many times in life we live ungratefully. We look at someone else who has more than us and we say I want what they got. Have you ever stopped and just thanked Him for what you do have? The majority of people in this country have a place to lay their head, food on the table, and clothes on their back. That alone warrants praise to God! He has provided for us! We might not have the biggest house or the nicest car or the biggest bank account, but at least we have the necessities of life. We need to praise God for the breath in our bodies. Just another day of life warrants us praising His Name! The Bible says let everyone that has breath praise the Lord. So that means until we leave this body, we need to be praising His Name! We need to thank God for saving our souls and for dying for our sins on a daily basis because without Calvary we would all be doomed.

Prayer is the key to unlocking God's Heart! I hope this has helped you in some small way! Remember Prayer is communication between you and the Father! I love you all and know that I pray for you each and every day! May the God of Peace comfort you and cause His face to shine upon you

The Amazing Power of God!

2011-10-03T00:28:00.000-07:00

The day started just like any other day. I packed my bags, and off I was to Tennessee Temple University to start my seminary education. The thought of living in a brand new city was very exciting to me and the thought of meeting new people was also very exciting. The trip started off just fine and I was talking to my mother about random things and when we made it to Forsyth Ga, little did I know that my dad was praying for me as I was driving. He was driving another car and something told him to start praying for us and for our safety. A little while up the road God heard my dad's prayers in a powerful way. We were getting closer to Atlanta Georgia, when all the sudden as I was driving I heard this noise and I thought that everything was okay. Then all of the sudden, the steering wheel locked and I completely lost control of the car. The car did a 360 right in the middle of I-75, and I honestly thought we were going to die. I could see semi trucks coming and I just thought well this is it. My dad was behind me driving the van and he said the car when it did a 360 literally went airborne and he thought that the car was going to flip. The car did not flip and the car had just enough time and space to do a 360 and go through four lanes of traffic only to stop in a ditch close to the pine trees. When I look back on that day, I know that God took control of that car and drove it to safety. On that day, God showed His power to me in a miraculous way. Why did it happen on that day? Looking back on it, I know that the Devil wanted to stop me from fulfilling my purpose and so he tried to kill me, but God said otherwise. God supernaturally intervened that day and saved my life and my mother's life. He showed me His power that day and I will never forget it as long as I live. It taught me that there are times when we feel utterly hopeless and out of control, but with God steering the wheels of our life, we are in the best hands of all! Each one of you has a purpose in this life, and the devil may try to put obstacles in your way or he may try to kill you, but remember God is on your side if you are a believer, and no weapon formed against you shall prosper and you will not die until God is ready for you! God bless You and may He truly Revive Your Day!

Whatsoever I Command Thee, Speak!- Evangelist Tony Workman

2011-07-02T10:54:00.001-07:00

Jeremiah 1:7-9- But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. 8. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. 9. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

Within these few verses we see some very important things about a man called by God to preach. Jeremiah 1:7 introduces us to the Prophet and gives us a description of who he is. The first thing I want you to notice is the phrase the Lord said unto me. It is an awesome thing to know when God is speaking and God spoke to Jeremiah. Are you not glad when God speaks to you? It is so wonderful to hear God speaking, but at the same time it should also cause us to humble ourselves because the God of the Universe is stooping down and speaking to us. He stooped down and spoke to Jeremiah. When the Holy God of the Universe stoops down to speak to us, it should demand our attention.

Let's move up one verse. Notice what Jeremiah says. He says I cannot speak, for I am a child. Jeremiah was young and he felt because he was so young that he could not speak. But notice the response that God gives him in verse 7. He says, say not I am a child: In other words He is telling Jeremiah, I have searched you and I know you and I am going to use you because I see what you will be. Yes, Jeremiah was frightened because of his young age, but God saw this young man's maturity. He saw that Jeremiah had a heart for God. Age does not determine spiritual maturity! Many churches act like because a man is not a certain age he is not pastor material. In fact, they look down on younger men for some reason and will not give them the chance. But we see clearly in verse 7 that God saw spiritual maturity in this young man. He saw a man that was willing to be used. God is looking for people willing to be used. Are you useable? Or do you tell yourself you can't do it? I got news for you! With God on your side, there is nothing impossible to him or her that believeth. So God tells Jeremiah that thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee. He says Jeremiah, you are going wherever I send you and to whomever I send you and you are going to declare what I command you to say and I am going to give you the strength to do it. God provides the strength! He provides His messengers with the strength to preach thus saith the Lord.

And it does not stop here. This is getting good! In verse 8, He says be not afraid of their faces. He is saying not only do I want you to preach, and not only do I want you to be my prophet, I want you to do so with boldness and without fear. This is what many preachers need to hear in this day and time because the truth of the matter is many preachers are just afraid. They are afraid of what people might think or what people might say so they cower down and by doing so, they are not pleasing to God. Quite frankly, if God told Jeremiah that He will supply the strength, then He will also supply us with strength to preach boldly ,unashamedly, and unapologetically. So, because He has given us strength we should fear no man. We should not back down to no man. We are called to preach the Word and it does not matter what anyone says. We are to please God and not man!

In verse 9 it says the Lord put forth His hand and touched Jeremiah's mouth. He touched Jeremiah's mouth! He empowered Jeremiah and put the words in the Prophet's Mouth! When the Lord touches your mouth, something happens! It can turn a timid man into a powerful preacher! This is what God can do. Verse 9 goes on to say, I have put my words into your mouth! The Lord will put His words into your mouth! He will preach through you. There is not a better feeling in this life then when God speaks through you and you feel the Spirit surging through your body. Aint no demon going to be able to stand because it is not you speaking but God Himself. God speaks through His preachers. I know because the Spirit gets a hold of me and I know when that sermon is over that it was not me but God Himself. Because in my flesh, I am like Jeremiah. I am weak and I am nothing. But with Christ speaking through me and the Spirit taking over, nothing is impossible, and then I can take on anything Satan throws my way because it is not I who live but Christ who lives within me.

In conclusion, God will use an ordainary individual with many weaknesses, such as myself, and He will empower that person and use them in ways they never thought were possible! Are you putting your trust in God, or are you relying on your own strength? God's strength is unlimited! So do not be afraid! Stand boldly and proclaim thus saith the Lord without fear and see God move like never before in this nation! Do not back down to no man! May God raise up some preachers in these last days who will preach what God tells them to preach and not fear any man! May we see revival in this nation again in our churches and may there be a great harvest of souls come to know Him in these last days! Send me, I will go!

Behold, The King Cometh!

2011-06-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

In 1 Thessalonians 4:18, Paul speaking by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes wherefore comfort one another with these words- that is to say, the blessed words that the Lord is coming to bring the dead and the living saints together in His presence.

Does the Apostle not see that perilous times are at hand in which there shall be a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, an hour coming when the church will no longer endure sound doctrine but heaping to themselves teachers who shall tickle their ears, be turned away from the Truth and unto fables? And when He desires to exhort the Christian minister to be faithful, among the faithless found, He does so by the coming of Christ, saying: " I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead and by His appearing and His Kingdom. Preach the Word."

Does he not see the time approaching when there shall be a great apostasy, a great falling away, and Antichrist seated in the temple of God showing himself that he is God?

All of these things are going to happen before the glorious appearing of the Lord, but Paul comforts the minds of believers by telling us that there is a better day coming, the Glorious Hope, the day Christ comes back for His bride, the Church. He provides comfort by declaring that the Lord is coming with His might and power to destroy with the breath of his lips, the Devil! What a day that shall be!

The coming of Christ is held out as the Blessed Hope of the Church. That Blessed Hope provides encouragement for the believer. The coming means the ending of Her long weary pilgrimage. I have good news for those that belong to Jesus: The King is Coming!

Lord, Send down the Revival Fire!

2011-06-13T23:25:00.000-07:00

Too long have we been apathetic toward the things of God! Too long have we become indulged in the trivial things of life, instead of focusing on things of eternal value. Quite simply we need a reformation. We need another great awakening where once again God's people bask in the presence of a Holy and Powerful God. In order for God to rend the heavens and send us revival fire we need to understand what revival is and how to keep our churches in a state of revival. The message that believers must hear and receive is revival! The saved must be revived if the lost are to be evangelized. Paul gives a vivid description of revival when he calls for believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices. When we are totally at God's disposal, we have been revived. As living sacrifices,we are willing to forsake sin, to obey His commands, and to follow His leading. We have taken our hands off our lives and have given them completely to His control. While emotions play an important role in motivating us to action, revival centers on the choice of the will. It occurs when a person makes a volitional act and consciously decides to confess and to forsake known sin (both now and in the future) and to obey God's leading.

Debunking Calvinism!

2011-06-13T23:14:00.000-07:00

This article was written by Fundamental Baptist World Mission but I uphold this article as my own position and I would have written something along the same lines myself, so consider this the position of me.

The theory which is today commonly known by the name Calvinism was first introduced by Augustine in the fourth century. He taught that Christ did not die for all men, but for a chosen few whom God had chosen and predestinated to become His children. He taught that all others were created to go to Hell. He taught that all those who were chosen to go to Heaven were as good as in Heaven and all those whom God chose to go to Hell were as good as in Hell. Augustine was later given sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church.

Over 1000 years later, John Calvin, an ex-Catholic, revived this teaching which had been forgotten since the death of Augustine. It is from Calvin that the teaching received its name, Calvinism.

Augustine, the father of the teaching, also taught that infant baptism was necessary in order to go to Heaven. He taught that a person could have genuine regeneration, genuine piety, and even genuine faith, but without membership in the Catholic Church, these would avail him nothing and he would go to Hell. He is also responsible for the teaching of sinless perfection. Many of the errors in the Catholic Church today can be traced to the writings of Augustine.

As for John Calvin, he was not a Baptist. He was a Reformer. He was not Christian in his attitude and behavior. He was a tyrant who cast those who disagreed with him into prison. In 1553, Micheal Servetus, a Spaniard, a scholar, a physician, a scientist of originality, and a man who was deeply religious and devoted to Christ, vigorously opposed Calvin on the doctrines of predestination and infant baptism [Bible Believers Resource Page note: while Servetus is to be commended for opposing predestination and infant baptism, some resources note that he also taught against the essential Christian doctrine of the Trinity which is heresy].

The following is a matter of record,

"While passing through Geneva, Servetus was recognized and arrested, certainly at Calvin's insistence. Servetus was tried and condemned by the civil authorities as a heretic, an offense punishable by death under the Justinian Code. In spite of Calvin's plea for a more merciful form of execution (emphasis mine), Servetus was burned at the stake on October 27, 1553, crying through the flames, 'O Jesus, thou Son of the eternal God, have pity on me."' (History of Christianity, Latourette, Chapter XXX, iii, Page 759).

Today, people are taught by some that a Christian must be either a Calvinist or an Arminian. This is not true. A Christian can and should be a Biblicist. We do not claim to fully understand the mind of God concerning sovereignty and free will. However, we do understand clearly the teaching of the Word of God concerning man's having a God-given free will to choose between good and evil and a free will to accept or reject Christ as Savior.
T.U.L.I.P.
The Heresy of John Calvin
1. Total Depravity (a term used by John Calvin).

The Biblical interpretation of Total Depravity is that all people are sinners by birth, by choice, and by practice. They have a sin nature. Total Depravity does not mean that all people are as bad as possible. It does not mean that all men are as totally bad as humanly possible in their earthly actions, as they would be, if left as Calvin would have us believe. It does not mean that all men are equally bad. If man has no free will to choose between good and evil, to what can the vast difference between the habitual criminal on death row and the morally good, yet lost person, who is a leader in civil and social affairs in his community, be contributed? There are good and commendable things in the lives of many people who do not claim to be Christians (not good in the sight of God, but in earthly actions). Total Depravity means that every part of every person's nature has been touched, tainted, affected, defiled, perverted, or influenced by sin. All men are capable of being totally bad, yet, by their free will, choose not to be.
The above is the true Biblical interpretation of Total Depravity. This position is gladly accepted by the Fundamental Baptist World-Wide Mission.

John Calvin added to the Word of God by taking the Biblical doctrine of Total Depravity and expanding it to an ultra-extreme, totally unBiblical position. John Calvin called his doctrine Total Depravity; however, that which Calvin taught is and should be branded heresy. Under the name of Total Depravity Calvin believed, taught, and insisted on Total Inability. He taught that man had/has no free will in the matter of salvation, no choice whatsoever, but that salvation was predetermined by God alone and man acts as mechanically as a robot. In response to questions, John Calvin wrote:

"Who then shall be saved? That is what His sovereign will decides and nothing else. It is purely a matter of the divine sovereign will which, doubtless for good reasons known to God Himself but none of them relative to anything distinguishing one man morally from another, chooses some and rejects the rest. God's election has nothing to do with foreknowledge except in so far as he foreknows who are to be members of the human race" (Calvin's Institutes III, xxiii, page 10).

From Genesis 2:16 through Revelation 22:17, God has always given man the freedom of choice. In relation to Genesis 2:16-17, John Calvin exercised double talk. The verses read:

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 2:16-16

Note that God commanded Adam that he should not eat of the tree of good and evil. John Calvin would have us believe that God commanded Adam not to do such and such a thing, but that God had already decreed that Adam would violate His command. That would make God the author of willful disobedience. John Calvin wrote,

"The only time free will might be reasonably asserted to have existed was in Adam before the fall . Adam could have resisted if he would, since he fell merely by his own will. In this integrity man was endowed with free will, by which, if he had chosen, he might have obtained eternal life. Nevertheless, there is no reality in the free will thus attributed to man, in as much as God had decreed the fall, and therefore must have in some wise already biased Adam's will. It was not left in neutral equilibrium, nor was his future ever in suspense or uncertainty. It was certain that sooner or later Adam would fall into evil, and with that inevitable fall there disappeared every trace of the free will which man may have had. From that time the will became corrupt along with the whole of nature . Man no longer possessed the capacity to choose between good and evil" (Calvin's Institutes II, iv, Page 8).

The belief that man has no capacity to choose between good and evil, places the responsibility of man's sin upon God. Calvin would have us believe that we are robots and our actions are decreed by the sovereign will of God. The belief that man has no capacity to choose between good and evil, yet does evil, places the responsibility of man's sin upon God. In Calvin's own statement above, he again double talks. He said Adam could have resisted; Adam fell by his own free will; that the fall was decreed by God. John Calvin, which position do you hold? All three statements cannot be true.

The Bible clearly teaches that God enlightens sinners (John 1:9, 12:32, and 16:8). The Bible also teaches the free will and free exercise of that will by man. This will be covered more completely in the point titled Irresistible Grace. For now, let it simply be noted that throughout the Bible, God sets forth the free will of man to choose for himself (John 1:12, 3:16, 5:24, Acts 2:21, 16:30-31. This is only a short list of verses which set forth man's free will to choose).

Fundamental Baptist World-Wide Mission totally rejects the teaching of John Calvin concerning Total Inability. We believe and teach that man is totally depraved, but that God, in His sovereign will, endowed man with the ability to choose between good and evil, Christ and the Devil, and Heaven and Hell.
2. Unconditional Election.

Calvin taught that God elected, chose, or predetermined that certain people would be saved and go to Heaven. Many modern day Calvinists declare that they do not believe in double predestination, which means they claim that they do not believe that God elected or predestined people to go to Hell, only those who are going to Heaven. If you believe that God did indeed predetermine that certain people would go to Heaven, that demands that you must also believe that all others were predetermined to go to Hell. Concerning this matter, John Calvin wrote:

"The reprobate like the elect are appointed to be so by the secret counsel of God's will and by nothing else" (Calvin's Institutes II, xxii, Page 11).

In a letter to Christopher Liertet, Calvin wrote,

"You are much deceived if you think that the eternal decrees of God can be so mutilated as that he shall have chosen some to salvation but destined none to destruction. There must be a mutual relation between the elect and the reprobate" (The Teaching of Calvin, Chapter Vl, Page 109).

Again Calvin wrote,

"Their fate was the direct immediate appointment of God, justified indeed by their life but not in necessary consequence. He might have saved them from their doom as He did in the case of the elect who were no more worthy in themselves to be saved; but that doom was fixed from all eternity and nothing in them could transfer them to the contrary class, any more than anything in the elect could result in their becoming reprobate..." (Calvin's Institute III, iii, page 4).

This is totally contrary to the Word of God ( 1 Timothy 2:3-4, II Peter 3:9, Acts 17:30, John 3:16-17, Ezekiel 33:11). From the time of Genesis 2:11 through Revelation 22:17, God has always given man the right to choose . God has always said, "Whosoever will..." (Mark 8:34). Did God mean what he said? If we interpret the Word of God consistently and literally, it must be concluded that God meant what He said. To teach the doctrine of "Unconditional Election" is to add to the Scripture things which God did not teach and never intended on men teaching.

As John Calvin taught Unconditional Election, it is not election at all. It is "selection." If God did indeed select some, as Calvin taught, but did not choose them relative to anything distinguishing one man morally from another, then God is a respecter of persons. The Bible says, "For there is no respect of persons with God" (Romans 2:11 and Acts 10:34).

Fundamental Baptist World-Wide Mission does not accept Calvin's teaching of Unconditional Election and Unconditional Damnation, but rather believes and teaches that whosoever will may come to Christ by the exercise of his own will. It is our responsibility to give people the Gospel message, thus giving them the opportunity to choose Christ and be saved or reject Christ and be lost.

The word predestination is found in only two books of the Bible, Romans 8:29-30 and Ephesians 1:5,11. In both texts predestination speaks not of people being lost or saved, but rather of position or privilege to be shared in the future by those who are already saved.
3. Limited Atonement.

Calvin taught that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed only for the elect. He taught that it was not for the non-elect. The Calvinist of today, in order to disguise his belief, has changed the third point of Calvinism to Particular Redemption. Another name, but the same heresy. Regardless of what name is put on the teaching, it remains false doctrine.

The Bible is as clear on this point as on any point of doctrine. Hebrews 2:9 declares that Christ tasted death for every man. 1 Peter 2:1 reads as follows,

"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction."

I John 2:2 says,

"And he (Christ) is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

This verse does not say or imply that Christ tasted death for only the elect, or that He was the propitiation for only the elect. Such teaching is heresy. It is a damnable doctrine to teach that the blood of Jesus Christ was not shed for all mankind since the beginning of the creation.

There are some who would tell us they accept the other four points of Calvin's teaching, but do not accept Limited Atonement. If a person accepts the teaching of John Calvin concerning Total Inability and Unconditional Election then he has no choice but to accept the teaching of Limited Atonement. It is impossible to accept one without accepting the other.

It could not be said that the blood of Christ was shed for all men in the light of Calvin's statement,

"The reprobate like the elect are appointed to be so by the secret counsel of God's will" (Calvin's Institutes III, xxii, Page 11) and " . . .their doom was fixed from all eternity and nothing in them could transfer them to the contrary class..." (Calvin's Institutes III, iii, Page 4).

Fundamental Baptist World-Wide Mission does not accept the teaching of John Calvin concerning Limited Atonement. We believe and teach that the blood of Christ was shed for all men and that it is effective for the cleansing of sin for whosoever will come to Christ.
4. Irresistible Grace.

Following Unconditional Election, John Calvin taught that if a person was one of the elect for salvation, when God was/is ready for that person to become a Christian, the person would/will come to Christ (not by choice, but as a robot who cannot resist the grace of God.). Again, as in the case of Limited Atonement, we find the modem day Calvinist trying to disguise or hide his doctrine. They have changed the name of this teaching from Irresistible Grace to a different name, but it is the same heresy.

God is a sovereign God. We believe, embrace, rejoice in, and glory in that truth. However, God in His sovereignty, chose to give man a free will and the ability to choose or reject the Gospel. God did not create a robot which would come to Christ mechanically. Ephesians 1:12 says,

"That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ."

What glory and what praise would the fact that we trusted Christ be if we had no will in the matter?

What would it mean if we could not have possibly resisted His grace? Nothing

Calvin often referred to John 6:44-45 as a proof text (Election and Conversion, pp 37, 67, 133). This verse says,

"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me."

These very verses refute John Calvin's teaching of Irresistible Grace. The word draw does not mean "force." According to other texts in the Word of God, it cannot possibly mean "an irresistible drawing". The same Greek word helkuo which is used for draw in verse 44 is found in John 12:32 which says, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. " If the word draw in John 6:44 teaches an irresistible drawing, then the Bible would be teaching in John 12:32 that all men would be irresistibly drawn. We acknowledge that this is certainly not happening. The word draw in both texts means that Christ will attract all men. This is in agreement with the entire Word of God.

God enlightens every man (John 1:9). God convicts every man (John 16:8). God draws every man (John 12:32). God leaves the choice to every man (John 3:16).

Irresistible Grace, within itself, is a phrase of contradiction. If it is irresistible, it is not grace at all. An irresistible grace would destroy the personal quality of the relationship between God and man which is established by grace and involves the free response of will to God's love and grace.

We see God's grace being rejected by man in Proverbs 1:24-25. "...I have called and ye refused....". In Matthew 23:37 Christ said, "How often would I have gathered...and ye would not." In John 5:40 Christ said, "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." In Acts 7:51 Stephen says, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." (See Matthew 22:3 and Isaiah 65:12.)

Fundamental Baptist World-Wide Mission believes that God enlightens every man and draws every man . However, we believe and teach that God's grace can be refused or rejected as well as accepted. We do not accept John Calvin's teaching that God's grace is irresistible. There is not one passage of Scripture that teaches that grace is irresistibly bestowed.
5. Perseverance of the Saints.

Many confuse this with the doctrine of Eternal Security. Calvin's teaching on this point was totally different from the Bible doctrine of Security. Calvin taught that a person who is of the elect will persevere. His teaching had nothing whatsoever to do with the keeping power of God. It was "matter of fact" in the sense that it was settled because you have been elected. He taught that if a person did not persevere to the end, he was not of the elect and he had been only a false professor. His emphasis was according to the above title: it was perseverance of the saints and not the saints being sealed by the Holy Spirit and kept by the power of God. Calvin's teaching was totally different from eternal security and totally foreign to the Bible. Verses which teach that we are kept by the power of God include, but are not limited to, John 10:28,29; Romans 8:35-39; Ephesians 4:30; and I Peter 1:4,5.

Conclusion. I would like to make several observations in reference to the matter of the sovereignty of God, the free will of man, and the strange teaching of John Calvin.

1. The Sovereignty of God. We believe in the sovereignty of God, but we believe that in the matter of salvation God leaves the final decision to man. God has elected a plan of salvation. He has given man the free will to accept or reject that plan.

We believe that without question God knew, before the foundations of the world, who would choose to accept Christ and who would choose to reject Christ. I Peter 1:2 says, "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father...." We do not believe that God decided, determined, elected, or selected who would and who would not receive Christ.

2. Confusing Terms. In reference to modem-day Calvinist terms, there is much confusion and misunderstanding. We hear the term Calvinist, Hyper Calvinist, Five-point Calvinist, and then we hear terms One-point, Two-point, Three-point, Four-point Calvinist, along with terms like Two and-a-half-point Calvinist. I fail to find room for these terms, if we are talking about the doctrine which Calvin embraced and taught.

The five points which identify Calvin's teaching (outlined above and commonly called "TULIP") are like dominos; they stand or fall together. If a person claims to be a One-Point (Total Depravity) Calvinist, if he believes the doctrine taught as Calvin taught it, then the person must accept the other four points. If the person believes in Total Inability (without ability to choose "yes" or "no"), then he has to accept the teaching that God unconditionally elected some to go to Heaven and others to go to Hell. If man has no will to decide, then you must also accept the teaching that someone apart from man made the decision.

Someone had to decide. In Calvin's teaching, that someone was God. You must accept that God selected, in eternity past, who would be saved and who would not be saved, and that the decision by God was not relative to anything which distinguished one man morally from another. There can be no other explanation, as there are no other alternatives.

The next domino in line is Irresistible Grace. If a person believes in Total Inability, that belief demands that he accept Unconditional Election. The two together require that he also believe Irresistible Grace. If you have no part in the decision, then the only way remaining for a person to come to Christ is mechanically.

What is the next domino? It is Calvin's teaching of Limited Atonement. If you believe that God did indeed elect or select that certain ones would be saved and all the rest of the human race would go to Hell, then you must accept the doctrine of Limited Atonement. How can a person say that he/ she believes the Blood of Christ was shed for the entire world, when he/ she believes that only the elect have any opportunity to be saved and the non-elect have no opportunity, no chance, no way to be saved? In Calvin's words, "...but their doom was fixed from all eternity and nothing in them could transfer them to the contrary class, any more than anything in the elect could result in their becoming reprobate..." (Calvin's Institute III, iii, Page 4).

You cannot accept one and reject the other. That would be double talk.

The doctrine of Perseverance, as taught by John Calvin, falls in the same line. It must be accepted along with the first four. If it is rejected in favor of the doctrine of Eternal Security, as taught and believed by Bible believing people, then the other four have no foundation on which to stand.

I see no room for a one-, two-, two-and-a-half-, three, three-and-a-half-, or four-point Calvinism. I see no difference between a Calvinist and a Hyper-Calvinist, or a Calvinist and a five-point Calvinist.

Fundamental Baptist World-Wide Mission rejects all five points of the doctrine called Calvinism which was founded in Hell; surfaced by the teaching of Augustine, a Catholic saint in the Fourth Century; and has been made famous and caused much confusion by John Calvin of the Reformed Church in the Fifteenth Century. John Calvin wrote commentaries on most of the books of the Bible, commentaries which received the endorsement of being "better than most" by the infamous Karl Barth.

3. Contradictions. While on II Peter 2:1, concerning "Damnable Heresies." Pastor Charles Britt said, "There is one way to spot a heretic" (or those who teach false doctrine)- He said, "Ask them 'What must a person do to be saved?" If the question is directed to a person who believes and preaches the doctrine of John Calvin and he answers, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved," then that involves man's will and his answer is contradicting his doctrine. He should answer, "In order for you to be saved, you must be one of the elect and then you can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. If you are not one of the elect, then there is nothing that you can possibly do to be saved."

He might also answer, "You must wait until there is a 'drawing' which you cannot resist; then you will be saved because you will automatically be saved if you are one of the elect."

I have never read material written by a Calvinist or a so called Calvinist, when his statements did not continually contradict his doctrine.

The teaching of the doctrine of John Calvin, the Reformer, causes confusion everywhere it is discussed, leaves unanswerable questions, and creates strife and division. We have seen works and entire mission fields divided and destroyed by the doctrine of John Calvin. God keep us from this heresy.

4. Bible verses concerning a heretic.

"A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinter, being condemned of himself" (Titus 3:10-11).

5. Attempts at Justification. Men, speaking of other men (generally their friends) who are admitted Calvinists, in an attempt to justify them, have said, "Yes, he is a Calvinist, but he wins as many souls as any one I know. " Winning souls will not justify teaching false doctrine any more than a preacher, by winning souls, can build up enough merits with God to offset the results of falling into sin, as some would have us to believe.

6. Additional False Doctrine. Two other false doctrines which John Calvin, the Reformer, taught fall in the same category, heresy.

Calvin believed and taught that church membership was necessary for salvation. His position is clearly expressed in the Westminster Confession,

"According to which out of the visible church there is no ordinary possibility of salvation."

"The church is no amorphous, vaguely defined body, a haphazard collection of individuals accidentally, temporarily, and loosely associated by reason of common beliefs or sympathies. It is not an institution toward which one might adopt an attitude of indifference, or with which professing Christians might decline to enter into relations. To stand outside of the church is to cut oneself off from God's storehouse of the bread of life, for the Church is the sphere within which the grace of God exclusively operates. It is the sole reservoir and distributor of the blessings of the Gospel otherwise unattainable. Only by the forgiveness of sins was entrance into it to be gained, for without pardon we can have no union with God. But that benefit is so peculiar to the Church that we cannot enjoy it unless we continue in communion with the Church" (Calvin's Institutes IV, i, page 20; iv, page 10; Comm. Romans xiii, 8; (Institute IV, i, page 22).

Calvin also taught that infant baptism was acceptable. He said,

"By infant baptism, regeneration is begun though sin remains, but condemnation ceases because guilt is no longer charged. It is like a sealed charter by which God gives confirmation that all our sins are so erased, canceled, and blotted out, that they may never come in His sight nor be rehearsed or imputed" (The Teaching of John Calvin, Chapter IX, part Vl, page 175).

7. The Deadening Effect. Let me quote again from The Teachings; of John Calvin, Chapter VIII part III, page 159,

"It may be that the larger hope which Calvin countenanced was to some extent responsible for his attitude of indifference to heathen peoples. He left them to the tender mercies of God and displayed no trace of missionary enthusiasm."

How totally contrary to all that the Holy Spirit of God emphasized in the Word of God.

The Word of God says,

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).

The Bible closes by saying,

"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will (emphasis mine) let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17).

Fundamental Baptist World-Wide Mission rejects all five points of the doctrine taught by John Calvin which is commonly called TULIP.

8. Summary. In reality the doctrine of Calvinism is diametrically opposed to and is an attack on the true and simple Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is indeed heretical to teach that God, in eternity past, without respect to any decision which He foreknew that we would make, appointed some people to go to Heaven and predestined others to go to Hell. In I John 2:2 the Bible says, "He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (emphasis mine).
God's Sovereignty
Man's Free Will And Responsibility

We have been told on a number of occasions that there are two great doctrines in the Word of God; the sovereignty of God and the free will and responsibility of man. We have been told that we must accept both doctrines, even though we cannot, in our finite minds, reconcile the two. By saying God is sovereign, if one means that God is 100% dominate in 100% of the affairs of man beginning with salvation, then we must reject the above statement.

We accept the fact that God could be sovereign in all the affairs of men and that He could decree every minute detail of man's life. That God could do so is not debatable. He is God. However, we believe that God, in His sovereignty, purposely limited Himself, in that He gave man a free will. This in no way discredits or dishonors the sovereignty of God. We believe that God knows/knew before the foundation of the world, every decision man would make and every detail of man's life (1 Peter 1:2). We do not accept the teaching that says God decreed all of those decisions, details, and actions.

If God's sovereignty extends past the free will of man, or if it is said that man's free will always acts in harmony with God's sovereign decrees, then the so-called sovereign decrees of God, carried out in the daily life of man, are in continual conflict with God's Word, nature, character, and holiness. It would present thousands of theological problems which are unacceptable in light of divine revelation. Man fulfilling God's preordained decrees would create a mechanical existence which would leave no room for real human responsibility or accountability or grounds for the righteous judgment of God.

In Exodus 20:34a God said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." Could the same God that said the above be charged with decreeing, before the foundation of the world, that the Israelites under the guidance of Aaron would with an engraving tool make a molten calf of gold and declare, "...These be thy gods..." (Exodus 32:4a)? Then in Exodus 32:7 God said, "...thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves..." To teach that God commanded one thing and decreed that people would do the opposite is totally inconsistent and unacceptable.

There are millions of people who have "other gods" today. Can God be blamed with decreeing that men would have other gods when He had previously commanded them not to have other gods? No. That is impossible.

In Exodus 20:14 God said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery. " To teach that King David, by the decree of God (along with many men, some of them preachers whom we can name), would commit adultery is blasphemy. The same God who said, "I am Holy," cannot be charged with decreeing David's sin nor the sins of whomever. That type of theology is an attack on the character and holiness of God (l Peter 1:15-16).

The Bible says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). He cannot change. He does not change (Malachi 3:6). He is never inconsistent. He never lays aside His holiness.

We could continue and make an unending list of such things as the above, but this clearly illustrates the point. Man has a free will and acts independently of God's sovereignty (not knowledge) because God decreed and granted that man would have that privilege. Man is responsible for his actions.

If we accept the teaching that God is sovereign in all things, we must stop preaching that no man in Hell will point his finger at God and say, "You are to blame." Certainly it would be said that God is to blame if eternal destiny is appointed and settled before the foundation of the world, and not based on any decision that God foreknew that man would make.

We must stop being hard on people who commit adultery. They can simply say, "I could not help myself. God had already decreed that I would commit adultery. " We must stop preaching against all sin if we believe that God is 100% sovereign in the affairs of men and has decreed all things. Again, I am not speaking of foreknowledge; I am speaking of designing/ decreeing all things. To teach that God decreed all the sins that mankind is committing is unacceptable and constitutes blasphemy.

We believe that God foreknows every dotting of the "i" and every crossing of the "t" but we do not believe that He decreed all of the dotting and the crossing. We believe that God is sovereign and could have decreed all things, but chose not to do so. We believe He chose, in His sovereignty, to give man a free will. Therefore, we believe that man has a free will, which God draws, enlightens, attracts, convicts, impresses, but does not dominate; and man is totally responsible for his actions, sins, thoughts, words, and all he does. We do not believe that the sovereignty of God and the free will and responsibility of man are two doctrines in the Word of God which cannot be reconciled by our finite minds but must be accepted.

We believe in the free will and the responsibility of man. We believe in the sovereignty of God. We believe that God, in His sovereignty, limited that sovereignty and gave man a free will and made him responsible. We believe that God foreknows every detail of all that has happened and will happen on the earth.

I Will Bless Those Who Bless Israel and Curse Those Who Curse Israel!

2011-05-31T20:51:00.000-07:00

I believe that when it says I will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel, it is referring to nations who have turned their back on Israel, and the individuals who hate Israel along with it. A blessing will come for those nations who support God's people and a curse will come upon those who curse God's people, the Israelites. It is clear that in the end all nations will turn their back on Israel at the Battle of Armageddon, so if America is still here, which is unlikely because it is not mentioned in Bible prophecy, then America will turn their backs on Israel.

We see clearly that Obama is not really for Israel. Because the unrighteous are in authority, the people shall mourn. Am I calling Obama unrighteous? That is God's decision but his activities are certainly unrighteous and God is angry at America for their stance on Israel. The curse in itself could come in a number of ways. It could be through natural disasters such as tornadoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. It could be that God writes Ichabod on many of the churches in this nation, because it is true that judgment always begins in the House of God.

The solution to the problems that this country will not come through Congress or the House of Representatives or even through the Office of the President. It will come when the Bible is again the authority and guide for every decision that is made in this nation. Many of the people in authority are wicked and are Biblically illiterate. They do not realize the danger they have put this nation in. You can contribute this problem to decades ago when the Bible was taken out of schools. When the Bible is taken out of society, society goes with it. Depravity rises, and soon we see people acting out in open defiance against God. Obama is acting out in defiance against God and America will pay for it. Anytime a nation is judged, everyone is at risk. You must remember that in Noah's day, only a few survived on the Ark. The rest were completely destroyed.

When the foundations are destroyed, what shall the righteous do? The answer can be found in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14- If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. We see clearly here that God can and will use natural disasters to get a nation's attention. Notice where it is said if I shut up heaven. He has the power to send drought upon the land. He has the power to send pestilence upon my people. In other words, God is control of the weather and if he gets mad enough he can use whatever means to get people's attention and that includes tornadoes. Notice the next verse. It says My people. This clearly denotes that God's people need to be on their knees. There is power in corporate prayer. And when I mean prayer, I mean a baptism of anguish. People live their lives as if nothing is going on much like Noah's day. We are in the last days. At many moment the trump could blow and we are gonna go. God is in control of everything and it is all coming to fruition just as the Bible predicts. I believe you and everyone else will agree when I say Ever Come so quickly Lord Jesus. There is coming a day when God is going to judge the nations of the world for turning their back on Him and His people. There is coming a day when Jesus will rule and reign from Jerusalem with a iron rod and scepter for 1,000 years. Soon all be made right by King Jesus. Until then let us work and labor for the Kingdom, proclaiming the Gospel to all nations, so that when we do enter the pearly gates

Reviving Your Day Episode 6- Reverend Tony Workman

2011-04-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

Reviving Your Day Episode 6- Reverend Tony Workman

Courageous Faith!

2011-04-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

Many times in life we will come across situations where every ounce of our being is tested. What is it that gets us through these trying times? Well for some it might be a number of things: For some it might be the bottle, for some it might be drugs,and even for some it might be sex. But with those who know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior it is faith that gets us through these tough situations. When the most trying time in your life comes knocking at your door, it is faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ that will get you through the trying times that you will face.

Faith is the key that unlocks the power of God in our lives. Faith enables us to live by His promises and experience His blessings in our personal lives. Faith allows us to live beyond the normal limits of life and experience the unlimited power of God on a regular basis. Hebrews 11:1 says Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. This means that there are some things in this life that we cannot see right away but by faith we believe that it will happen. In what ways can we learn to develop Courageous Faith.

The first way that we can develop courageous faith is by staying in God's Word. Psalm 119:165 says, Great peace have they that love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. This verse shows that when trying times do come that those who truly love God's Word will not let trying times offend them or bring them down. In Psalm 119:105 the Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. This verse illustrates the importance of letting the Holy Spirit illuminate your path so that the shadows that arise in your life will not overcome you. Psalm 1 is a example of how a faithful man should live and the person who has developed courageous faith will delight in the law of the Lord and in His law will he meditate day and night.

Finally, in the journey of developing courageous faith, we need to look at the stories of the men in the Bible who exhibited courageous faith. The first person I want you to see is Abraham. In Genesis 12, the Lord commanded him to get out of his country and out of his father's house and go to the land that I will show you. Now in Abraham's time, paganism was rampant and most of the people worshipped the moon god Nannar. Now Abraham was from Ur, a city known for its prosperity. Sir Charles Wooley excavated the place in the early 1920's and the early 1930's and found a 70 foot ziggurat that was dedicated to the moon god Nannar. I suppose that Abraham would often go to the ziggurat to pray to the moon god. On one particular day however after countless number of times of trying to reach Nannar without a response. Abraham was terrified when he did get a response. Only this time, it was an audible voice and it was Jehovah, the God over the moon and everything else. Abraham was then told to leave his home to the place that Jehovah would show him. Abraham's courageous faith was shown in his response to God and his journey in faith from everything he once knew. Several other examples show us in the Bible that Jacob exhibited courageous faith by hanging tough in the tough times, Joseph exhibited courageous faith by starting over when it all fell apart, Moses showed courageous faith by overcoming his past, Joshua showed courageous faith by conquering the opposition, Gideon exhibited courageous faith by overcoming his fears, Samson showed courageous faith by making faith at the very end one of his strengths, and David's courageous faith gave him confidence in the face of danger. The point of mentioning all these men is that we can all learn lessons from these men and through their examples our faith in God and in our everyday lives can be strengthened.

God, Send Us Prophets by Leonard Ravenhill!

2011-04-23T18:52:00.000-07:00

The prophet comes to set up that which is upset. His work is to call into line those who are out of line! He is unpopular because he opposes the popular in morality and spirituality. In a day of faceless politicians and voiceless preachers, there is not a more urgent national need than that we cry to God for a prophet! The function of the prophet, as Austin-Sparks once said, “has almost always been that of recovery.” The prophet is God’s detective seeking for a lost treasure. The degree of his effectiveness is determined by his measure of unpopularity.

Compromise is not known to him.

* He has no price tags.
* He is totally “otherworldly.”
* He is unquestionably controversial and unpardonably hostile.
* He marches to another drummer!
* He breathes the rarefied air of inspiration.
* He is a “seer” who comes to lead the blind.
* He lives in the heights of God and comes into the valley with a “thus saith the Lord.”
* He shares some of the foreknowledge of God and so is aware of impending judgment.
* He lives in “splendid isolation.”
* He is forthright and outright, but he claims no birthright.
* His message is “repent, be reconciled to God or else…!”
* His prophecies are parried.
* His truth brings torment, but his voice is never void.
* He is the villain of today and the hero of tomorrow.
* He is excommunicated while alive and exalted when dead!
* He is dishonored with epithets when breathing and honored with epitaphs when dead.
* He is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but few “make the grade” in his class.
* He is friendless while living and famous when dead.
* He is against the establishment in ministry; then he is established as a saint by posterity.
* He eats daily the bread of affliction while he ministers, but he feeds the Bread of Life to those who listen.
* He walks before men for days but has walked before God for years.
* He is a scourge to the nation before he is scourged by the nation.
* He announces, pronounces, and denounces!
* He has a heart like a volcano and his words are as fire.
* He talks to men about God.
* He carries the lamp of truth amongst heretics while he is lampooned by men.
* He faces God before he faces men, but he is self-effacing.
* He hides with God in the secret place, but he has nothing to hide in the marketplace.
* He is naturally sensitive but supernaturally spiritual.
* He has passion, purpose and pugnacity.
* He is ordained of God but disdained by men.

Our national need at this hour is not that the dollar recover its strength, or that we find the answer to the ecology problem. We need a God-sent prophet!

I am bombarded with talk or letters about the coming shortages in our national life:
bread, fuel, energy. I read between the lines from people not practiced in scaring folk. They feel that the “seven years of plenty” are over for us. The “seven years of famine” are ahead. But the greatest famine of all in this nation at this given moment is a FAMINE OF THE HEARING OF THE WORDS OF GOD (Amos 8:11).

Millions have been spent on evangelism in the last twenty-five years. Hundreds of gospel messages streak through the air over the nation every day. Crusades have been held; healing meetings have made a vital contribution. “Come-outers” have “come out” and settled, too, without a nation-shaking revival. Organizers we have. Skilled preachers abound. Multi-million dollar Christian organizations straddle the nation. BUT where, oh where, is the prophet? Where are the incandescent men fresh from the holy place? Where is the Moses to plead in fasting before the holiness of the Lord for our moldy morality, our political perfidy, and sour and sick spirituality?

GOD’S MEN ARE IN HIDING UNTIL THE DAY OF THEIR SHOWING FORTH.

They will come. The prophet is violated during his ministry, but he is vindicated by history.

There is a terrible vacuum in evangelical Christianity today. The missing person in our ranks is the prophet. The man with a terrible earnestness. The man totally otherworldly. The man rejected by other men, even other good men, because they consider him too austere, too severely committed, too negative and unsociable.

Let him be as plain as John the Baptist.
Let him for a season be a voice crying in the wilderness of modern theology and stagnant “churchianity.”
Let him be as selfless as Paul the apostle.
Let him, too, say and live, “This ONE thing I do.”
Let him reject ecclesiastical favors.
Let him be self-abasing, nonself-seeking, nonself-projecting, nonself- righteous, nonself-glorying, nonself-promoting.
Let him say nothing that will draw men to himself but only that which will move men to God.
Let him come daily from the throne room of a holy God, the place where he has received the order of the day.
Let him, under God, unstop the ears of the millions who are deaf through the clatter of shekels milked from this hour of material mesmerism.
Let him cry with a voice this century has not heard because he has seen a vision no man in this century has seen. God send us this Moses to lead us from the wilderness of crass materialism, where the rattlesnakes of lust bite us and where enlightened men, totally blind spiritually, lead us to an ever-nearing Armageddon.

God have mercy! Send us PROPHETS!

This is a article written by Leonard Ravenhill but this is what I believe as well! These words are exactly what I believe, and what is needed in this nation!

God Has His Prophets!

2011-04-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

Let no Christian's heart fail him because it seems that the enemy has come in like a flood, that the voice of the prophet is not heard in the land. God has His men hidden. They will come forth without price tags, with nothing to sell, nothing to promote but His message, nothing to organize, nothing to propagate but holiness unto the Lord.

John the Baptist came at a critical hour in the history of Israel. The parched souls sought him in the heat-laden desert. England, dead under the teaching of Deism and thickly foul with corrupt politics, hardly offered loving arms to the Oxford scholar, Wesley. Injustice, unequal taxation, vice, drinking, etc. were all at a premium in Wesley's day. To the nation dead in politics and with icicles on the pulpits and snowmen in them, Wesley brought the torch of Spirit-anointed preaching and the nation melted before him.

The cultists and purveyors of false doctrine, with millions to spend on scattering their false doctrines worldwide, offer us greater challenges than Wesley or Finney had, but not greater than our God is able to deal with. Our present evangelism offers men a change of destiny- Biblical regeneration offers men a new Spirit-born personality, then destiny.

Revival is the Lord's doing, and is marvelous in our eyes. Wet-eyed, heart-broken revivalists produce wet-eyed, heartbroken sinners at the feet of a Holy God. True revival, said dear Dr. Tozer, "changes the moral climate of a community". Men like John the Baptist, and Wesley burned their names on the history of the world.

At the moment, we are a broken nation, broken financially, morally and spiritually. If we were half as spiritual as we think we are, we would be going to the house of the Lord in sackcloth with a handful of furnace ashes to anoint our unworthy heads. But we still play church. We still delight in shallow preaching and offer shallower praying. Our sackcloth and ashes would be less conspicuous than Isaiah, "walking barefoot and naked" for three years as a sign.

Jeremiah mourned the sin of the people. His castigations of their iniquity cost him a spell in the stocks, the inside of a prison, and the misery of sleeping at the bottom of a muddy well. He knew better than to say, peace peace, when there was no peace. He alone knew the pending judgments of God. He sat alone because of the wrath of God (Jer 15:17).

Oh for men who will wait upon the Lord, hear His voice, get a baptism of His power and an authority to deliver His message to a sick church and a dying world. We have labored in the flesh for too long. We have interpreted success by material gain- bigger buildings for our churches, bigger crowds for our hearers, bigger offerings as proof of His favor. We have had weak preachers for too long- God give us giants! We had promoters too many, Lord send us revivalists. We have played evangelism with a hundred gimmicks; Lord give us, in this dark hour of human history, some John the Baptists to burn and shine, some Knox to say, " Give me America and the nations, or I die".

The Future Status of Israel!

2011-04-22T23:17:00.001-07:00

During the tribulation period, Israel will again be a focal point of God’s activity. Many Jews will be saved as a result of God’s dealings with them. This is part of God fulfilling His covenant promises to the Jewish people. God’s covenant promises to the Jewish people include salvation, restoration to their land, and the Lord Jesus Christ as their ruler. God grafted in the Gentiles when the Jewish people rejected the Messiah and the gospel message. God’s purpose in grafting in Gentiles includes making Jews jealous as He brings them to the point where they accept the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah. God has chosen a remnant among the physical descendants of Jacob. Spiritual blindness (for the most part) rests upon the Jews today because of their persistent disobedience and unbelief. God will remove the blindness from the Jew’s hearts and many will be saved during the tribulation period. At least 12,000 from each tribe of Israel will be saved. God is worthy of praise for the sovereign way He has worked among the Jews and Gentiles. Every person will, by one means or another, come to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. Some may voluntarily do so now by coming to Jesus in faith and receiving salvation. Some will be saved during the tribulation period. Others will have to later acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, but they will only receive condemnation, not salvation.

One of the greatest evangelism explosions the world has ever seen will take place during the tribulation period, as God continues to have His witnesses on earth even during those dark days. A great evangelistic outreach will be led by 144,000 saved Jews (12,000 from each tribe of Israel, according to Revelation 7:4-8). The 144,000 Jews are described as being redeemed and following the Lamb. The 144,000 Jews are able to learn a song that others on earth are unable to learn. The 144,000 are sealed in their foreheads to indicate God’s ownership. The message preached by the 144,000 witnesses will be the gospel of the kingdom, involving the same gospel message that is preached today, and additional emphasis on Jesus’ soon return to establish His earthly kingdom and the need to prepare for that event. People will have the opportunity to be saved during the tribulation period. People will be saved during the tribulation period (and only way) people are saved today—by God’s grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Covenant will still be in effect at this time, since it is an everlasting covenant and promises salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, based on His atoning work on the cross. A huge (innumerable!) group of people from every social, ethnic, and linguistic group will be saved during the tribulation period, largely through the commitment and effectiveness of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses.

The Distinction between the Rapture and the Second Advent

2011-04-22T16:01:00.001-07:00

The terms second coming and return of Christ have multi-faceted significance, which often results in a bit of confusion. It is necessary to distinguish between the Lord Jesus Christ’s coming for His saints (often called the rapture) and the Lord Jesus Christ’s coming with His saints in triumph and glory (sometimes called the second advent, meaning second coming).
Distinctions between the rapture and the second advent: the rapture could occur at any time; with no signs preceding it to indicate that it is about to happen. The second advent of Jesus will be preceded by various signs and events. At the rapture, Christians will meet Jesus in the air. At the second advent, Jesus will return to earth (specifically, to the Mount of Olives, causing the mountain to split in half). His feet shall stand in the day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave (split) in the midst thereof toward the east, and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. At the rapture, the only people on earth who will be involved are Christians. At the second- advent, every eye shall see Him. Changes in Christians will take place at the rapture, but nature will remain unchanged. Changes in nature will take place at the second-advent. In conjunction with the rapture, believers will be judged. In conjunction with the second-advent, unbelievers will be judged.

Certain passages are commonly thought to be referring to the rapture, because of statements such as “Then shall two people be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come… be ye also ready; for in such a hour as ye think not (when you are not expecting it) the Son of man cometh. Matthew chapter 24, Mark chapter 13, and Luke chapter 21 are not referring to the rapture. In context, Jesus was responding to His disciples’ question about the signs that will precede His coming back to earth at the end of the age. Jesus described the signs that will precede His triumphant coming to set up His kingdom on earth, at the conclusion of the tribulation period – not His coming in the air at the rapture.

Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. Many shall come in My name, saying I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers (various) places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end (of the tribulation), the same shall be saved (delivered from the tribulation). And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation (the antichrist), spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand), then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains… For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved (no one would survive). Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The immediate context compares the people in Noah’s day to those who are taken when the Lord Jesus Christ comes. Those who are taken are taken to be judged, just like those who were taken in judgment by the flood in Noah’s day. Those who are left remain on earth to experience Jesus’ millennial reign, just like those on board the ark were left alive (unlike all other people on earth in Noah’s day).

The Value of Studying Final Things (Future Things)

2011-04-22T15:58:00.001-07:00

The study of final things is very interesting, especially in this day when it seems there are things happening that appear to be related to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Remember, however, that prophecy is not the main emphasis in the scriptures. The scriptures tell us about God, Jesus, mankind, salvation, worship, prayer, and daily Christian living and service. Prophecy is dealt with appropriately in the Bible, but it is not the main emphasis. However, there is definite value in studying final things, particularly since the study of those things revolves around the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The second coming of Jesus Christ ought to motivate believers to holy living. The time of the Lord’s return is unknown; therefore believers should be prepared for His coming. The second coming of Jesus ought to motivate believers to be faithful servants. The second coming of Jesus ought to motivate believers to become faithful witnesses. The second coming of Jesus ought to motivate believers to love one another. The second coming of Jesus ought to motivate believers to not judge other. The second coming of Jesus ought to produce patience in the lives of believers. The second coming of Jesus ought to produce hope in the lives of believers. Jesus taught that His return should be a comfort to His followers because He would return to take them to be with Him. The second coming of Jesus ought to motivate believers to watch for His coming. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 gives details concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air. The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. The next verse declares, Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Comfort is found in the fact that believers who have died will be raised, believers who are still alive will be reunited with those who have died, the bodies of all believers will be changed, and believers will be with the Lord forever. The responsibilities of believers in regard to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ include: 1.) Believing in His coming, 2.) Praying for His coming, 3.) Loving His coming, 4.) Being alert, expecting and watching for His coming, 5.) Patiently waiting for His coming, 6.) Do not scoff at the thought of His coming, 7.) Live in such a way as to be unashamed at His coming.

The Rapture!

2011-04-22T15:56:00.001-07:00

The term rapture does not appear in the Bible. The term rapture comes from the Latin verb rapto, which means to seize or to snatch away. Rapture implies the act of conveying a person from one place to another and is therefore used to denote the conveying of living persons to heaven. The rapture is declared to be a mystery- something that God did not reveal in the Old Testament. The first clear mention of the rapture came from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ will descend from heaven. Jesus’ coming will be a physical coming, not merely a spiritual or symbolic coming. Jesus’ coming will be visible to those who belong to Him. The dead in Christ shall rise first, caught up to meet the Lord in the air, to be with Him forever.

Resurrection (unlike the rapture) was no mystery, the Old Testament clearly teaches that people would be raised from the dead. Job declared, I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy my body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; who I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed (how my heart longs) within me. David spoke of awakening in God’s presence. Isaiah gives a clear statement of the hope of resurrection: Dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out (give birth to) the dead. Daniel clearly describes a future resurrection: Many multitudes of them that sleep are dead in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Jesus rebuked the Sadducees for not believing in resurrection. Jesus declared , the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Jesus promised everlasting life to those who believe on Him, giving them the assurance that He would raise them from the dead. Jesus declared, I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me shall never die. Jesus then proved the validity of His statement by raising Lazarus from the dead. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is foundational to Christianity. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ also guarantees the resurrection of all those who belong to Him. Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man (Adam) came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order; Christ the first-fruits (the first of many to rise from the dead, never to die again); afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming. The term first-fruits refers to the first of many to rise from the dead, never to die again.

There is plenty of biblical truth regarding physical death. Physical death is the result of being in Adam. Physical death is the consequence of sin. Physical death is ordained by God. Physical death will be experienced by all people who are presently alive, with the exception of those believers who are alive when the Lord returns. Physical death brings the end of earthly projects and possessions. Physical death is the leveler of all ranks of people. Physical death is to be regarded as at hand and therefore preparation should be made for it. Physical death should prompt faithfulness to the Lord. Physical death is described as sleep. Sleep is a euphemism- a figure of speech that utilizes a softer, gentler way of dealing with a harsh subject. This does not mean that the soul is unconscious between the time of death and the resurrection. It applies primarily to the body, which will one day be awakened when it raised from the dead. Physical death is described as putting off the tabernacle. Physical death is only temporary for those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Physical death holds no fear for the believer. Physical death—in the case of a believer – is precious in God’s opinion. Physical death is never experienced by those who are in the presence of the Lord. Physical death will one day be destroyed.

Living believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, to be with Him forever. There will be Christians who will not experience death—another mystery. The Old Testament clearly teaches resurrection, but it does not reveal that some people will go into God’s presence without experiencing death. The rapture will produce a spectacular reunion. All believers (those who have died and those who are still alive) meet the Lord Himself. Christians who are alive are reunited with other believers who have died. The bodies of all believers (those who have died and those who are still alive) will be changed. The believer’s present body, which is called a vile body is not yet suited for entrance into the presence of God. A change in our physical bodies must take place. A phenomenal change in the bodies of all believers (those who have died and those who are still alive) will be accomplished by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. This change will take place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

Characteristics of having a resurrected body include having a body that God, in His sovereignty, will give to believers, having a changed body that is not to be subjected to the limitations of our present physical bodies, including sickness, injury, fatigue, weakness, exhaustion, and death, having a vast improvement over the old body, having a glorious body, having a heavenly body, perfectly suited to the environment of heaven and perfectly suited to accomplish the purpose of God. It also includes having a body similar to the glorified body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrection body of the Lord Jesus Christ was a real physical body – the same one in which Jesus’ followers had seen Him living, the same body that had died. People recognized Jesus after His resurrection. Jesus demonstrated certain physical functions, such as when he ate with His disciples. But Jesus’ physical body was changed—free from restrictions. Jesus may have passed from the sealed tomb. Jesus entered into a locked room without using the door. Jesus appeared suddenly and He disappeared just as suddenly. Distance was no restriction to Him after His resurrection. Most importantly, the risen Lord Jesus Christ cannot ever die again. The Lord Jesus Christ is referred to as the firstborn of the dead and the first begotten of the dead. The Greek term translated firstborn and first begotten is prototokos, from which we get the term prototype. There are passages that refer to Jesus being a prototype—the first to have an everlasting resurrected body, the first to die and rise again, never to die again. Other people were raised from the dead, but only to their former existence. They all died a second time, at which their bodies remained dead.

Also, the new resurrected body will have somewhat of a resemblance to the present earthly body. Jesus was recognized by his friends and associates after He rose from the dead. It is likely that people will still be recognizable in the presence of the Lord. The resurrected, glorified bodies of believers will be like the resurrected, glorified body of the Lord Jesus Christ, in some ways resembling their present earthly bodies, and in other ways very different from their present earthly bodies. Every believer will be changed at the rapture. These changes will occur in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. The rapture will accomplish the final stage of salvation.

Warning Every Man!

2011-04-22T02:07:00.000-07:00

Paul ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. He says, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. There is not enough terror of the Lord today, either, in the pulpit or in the pew, either among professing Christians or among out-and out sinners who make no profession.

God is indeed holy, just, and good, merciful and kind; but He hates sin. The fact that He gives human beings space to repent, by no means implies that the most terrible judgments are not coming on those- all those-who despise His mercy.

It is an awful thing to trample underfoot the Blood of the Son of God and to ignore the mercy of the Almighty. It is impossible to fully preach the Gospel (Romans 15:19) and to declare all the counsel of God (Acts 20:27) without warning men of judgment to come! Even Felix trembled when Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come (Acts 24:24-25).

Anyone who goes about lulling Christians into a yet deeper spiritual sleep then they are already in, is not a disciple of Christ- but rather, a wolf in sheep's clothing (Matt 7:15). Jesus says, Why sleep ye? Rise and Pray(Luke 22:46). Jesus tells His own, Take heed to yourselves...watch ye therefore and pray always.

Unless we want to be cut asunder and have our portion appointed with the hypocrites, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, we must heed the warning of our Lord and watch- be alert, be aroused, be awake spiritually, and be... ready for the Second Coming of Jesus!

The least thing God wants us to do is more important than anything else in all the world! It is better to miss anything than to become careless and fail to be ready at the coming of the Lord. In such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh.

Some might say that Jesus only spoke those warnings to His disciples of that day, but Jesus is the Head of the Church. The church is subject unto Christ. He taught His disciples to teach all nations to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded them.

Jesus is the Mediator of the New Testament (New Covenant), under which we now live, as Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:8,13). Jesus says that when the Holy Spirit is come, He will reprove (convict) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. There will be conviction of sin when the Holy Spirit is freely moving in the midst.

God does not tell us to go about trying to make things nice and comfortable and pleasant for the people, so that they may enjoy themselves and be self indulgent. He says, Woe to them that are at ease in Zion (Amos 6:1). In other words, sometimes we will have to confront the out-and out sinner and tell them that there are consequences for what they do and we at times must be bold in doing so.

Jesus says, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me (Matt 16:24). Consider what it means to follow Jesus. Was He trying to get all the enjoyment out of life He could? Was He self-indulgent?

Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matt 3:2). Exhort one another daily (Hebrews 3:13). The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force (Matt 11:12).

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7). Today many people are deceived, actually imagining that they can give some kind of mental assent to to the truth of the Bible, and then live in sin openly and flagrantly and expect to get to Heaven when they die!

The rich man in Hell was told: Son remember that thou in thy lifetime recievedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted and thou art tormented (Luke 16:25).

Unless you repent of your sins, you will certainly reap what you sow! Let us quit living for self and for sin now and repent, and cry unto God before it is too late for forgiveness, in Jesus' Name. Jesus says, Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37)

This commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto My name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings (Mal 2:1-2)

Awaken All Who Idly Slumber!

2011-04-22T01:29:00.000-07:00

The time is short! Oh ye, who bear Christ's name, with unction from on high, His Gospel truth with prayerful zeal proclaim. Redemption draweth nigh! Awaken all who idly slumber! Send heralds out in countless number. The time is short!

The time is short! Unsheathe the Spirit's sword, Salvation's helmet wear. Await with joy the coming of your Lord. Yield not to dark despair. Let kingdoms fall and earth bonds sever, God's settled Word abides forever. The time is short!

The time is short! While moments still remain bring to God's storehouse now the tithes of gold ere rust has left its stain. Oh bring in sweat of brow the gifts of toil and service. Christ's holy laws of love fulfilling. The time is short!

The time is short! Sweet Advent Music swells, O'er hill and dale and plain. The pealing chime of Maranatha Bells Herald His coming reign. Each day His bridal feast draws nearer: "The time is short"!

Pastoring a Flock: From the Heart of a Servant, Brother Tony Workman

2011-03-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

What does it take to pastor a flock? It takes a man who is in love with Jesus and who loves people. The pastor must have compassion for His people. He must be willing to put people's needs ahead of his own. When someone is hurting, the pastor is there to put his arm around that person, and let them know how much he cares. Sometimes all people want is for the pastor to let them know how much they care. The pastor should be a reflection of God's love. The pastor should be willing to go to hospitals and pray over his people. I don't care how big the church is, the pastor must be there for the sick. A pastor must be forgiving. A pastor must forgive people and be long-suffering with people. That does not mean that a pastor is a push-over. Of course, there are times when discipline is necessary, but that discipline should always be done with a heart of love and with the person's best interests in mind. A pastor must finally Preach the Word! He must preach with boldness and he must preach as if he does not have another day to live. I think pastors should have fellowship with their people. Go out to eat with your flock (Watch what you eat), go to their homes. Show them that you love them. Be a shepherd to your people. It does not matter if the church is 20 or 20,000. Be a Shepherd. I desire to pastor a flock. I have the gift of evangelism but I also have the gift of pastoring. Some pastors do not pastor. If a church is looking for a pastor, then they must observe how the man interacts around people. Does he involve himself in other people's lives? Is he a man of compassion or is he a man who gets irritated often? If your church has men who do not possess these qualities, then maybe what you have is a great preacher, but not a great pastor. If you have a great preacher and a great pastor then you have it made. I want people to know that I love them. I want people to know that I am here if you need me. I long to fellowship with you. I long to listen to your problems and pray with you. I long to love you and lend my shoulder if you need to cry. I want you to know that I hurt when you hurt. It pains me when my friends and my church goes through problems. If I could take your hurts I would. I long to preach the Word! I long to teach people the ways of righteousness and see the lost saved! I love you!

What does Bible Prophecy say about the Middle East Meltdown?

2011-03-07T21:58:00.000-08:00

The Bible has much to say about Bible prophecy. Approximately 27 percent of the Bible contains prophetic material. John Ankerberg and Dillon Burroughs explain in detail what does the Bible say about the Middle East Meltdown in their book Middle Eastern Meltdown. This book is an exciting read discussing many topics ranging from Islam, Oil, and terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah. All of these topics are extremely important in understanding the day in which we live, and the importance of Biblical prophecy. We are living in incredible times and the rapture according to Ankerberg and Burroughs could come at any moment. If that is the case then we truly are living in the last days and we as evangelicals should know why we should study prophecy, what part does religion have in the last days, the Rapture, what happens after the Rapture, where is America in Bible prophecy, what is Israel’s future, and finally making your future certain. These are all things that these two great authors discuss and these topics will be broken down in depth.

The first thing that these two authors discuss is Why Study Biblical Prophecy? Within this chapter, seven reasons are given on why we as Christians should study Biblical Prophecy: 1. Prophecy is God speaking directly to humanity, 2. God Himself commands us to study prophecy, 3. Jesus personally encouraged the study of prophecy, 4.Prophecy is evidence that God exists, 5. Prophecy gives us hope for the future, 6. Prophecy encourages a lifestyle of integrity, and 7. Prophecy shapes our personal thinking and worldview. When it comes to the first reason it is amazing “that every twenty-fifth verse in the New Testament refers to the second coming. Prophecy is extremely important in the entire Bible and that is one reason why God wants us to pay attention to prophecy. When it comes to the second reason, the Bible says all scripture is inspired which means that it literally is God-breathed. Prophecy is inspired because all scripture is inspired so we must obey God and be familiar with what prophecy means. When it comes to the third reason Jesus personally encouraged the study of prophecy in Mark 13:23. Mark 13:23 says, So be on guard: I have told you everything ahead of time. So Christ tells them to be aware of the times and to be on guard. That is yet another reason why we should study prophecy. When it comes to the fourth reason, Ankerberg says that “all it takes is one false prophecy to discredit the claim that the Bible is God’s Word to us. Yet the fact no prophecy of Scripture (of the prophecies fulfilled so far) has been proven false serves as confirmation of God’s trustworthiness and existence (129).” Knowing that prophecy is reliable is evidence that God exists. When it comes to the fifth reason, “prophecies intent is to help individuals and communities of people to be encouraged regarding God’s future of the world.” We as Christians have a home to look forward to. We are pilgrims and sojourners passing through. When it comes to the sixth reason, prophecy encourages people to live holy and blameless before the Lord because the Lord could return at any time. Finally, prophecy encourages us in how we think about the world around and how we live for lives from day to day. It impacts our worldview.

The second thing Ankerberg and Burroughs discuss is Religion in the Last Days. These authors point out that there will be a great falling away in the last days and they provide ten points based on the Word of God on this issue. In the last days people will depart from the faith. This is evident in the society that we are currently living in. In the culture that we live people are denouncing the fundamental doctrines of the faith, and Burroughs and Ankenberg attest to that fact. Evil Spirits will mislead people. In this day and time the number of people who believe they had an encounter with spirits is mindboggling. There also those that do not even believe that Satan exists and some profess to be Christians. People will follow the teaching of demons. Not everything that is proclaimed is truth. There are many different religious movements and these movements are promoting demonic doctrine. People will not put up with those who teach sound doctrine. In fact many of the fundamental doctrines have been ridiculed and those that promote the essential teachings of Christianity are deemed narrow-minded. People will hear what they want to hear, not what they need to hear. Ankerberg points out that “while many churches continue to faithfully communicate the true message of Jesus, thousands of others have individually or corporately rejected the central beliefs of the Christian faith.” We are truly living in the last days.

People will base their religious beliefs on fiction. For instance the Da Vinci code attacks the Resurrection and many people have bought into these lies and are beginning to believe the fictitious accounts. There will be church leaders who deny Jesus Christ. In the last days false prophets will arise. For instance Ankerberg points out “that there was a pastor who after 25 years of ministry told his congregation that he no longer believed that faith in Jesus is the only way to Heaven (140).” The last days will be terrible times. Things in today’s culture are getting progressively worse. Ankerberg points that statistics show that violence, and sexual misconduct are becoming the norms for today’s society. This sounds familiar to the things described in 1 Timothy 3:1-4. People will abandon the true Christian faith. There are many people that believe that the God of Islam is the same God as the God in the Bible. Many people believe that doing good works will get you to Heaven. People are departing from Christianity. Finally, people will doubt the second coming. There are some that believe that Christ’ return is not imminent. Yet, the reason he does delay is for people’s benefit. He wants everyone to be saved and to go to Heaven.

The third thing that Burroughs and Ankerberg talk about is the Rapture. In this chapter these authors interview Dr. Walvoord on the Rapture. There is only rapture. The rapture “ predicts that Christ is going to cause dead Christians to be resurrected and Christians who are alive to be instantly changed to rise from the earth and meet the Lord in the air and enter Heaven (148).”

The fourth thing that Ankerberg and Burroughs discuss is what happens after the rapture. Ankerberg and Burroughs explain that there will be a Tribulation of seven years in which the four horsemen of the apocalypse will be unleashed on the earth. The purpose of the Tribulation is to get Israel to finally acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. Burroughs and Ankerberg talk about the Antichrist and explain that he will the greatest charismatic leader the world has ever seen. He will hate Israel and he will require the world to receive the mark of the beast.

The fifth thing that Ankerberg and Burroughs discuss is Where is America in Bible Prophecy? They point out four viewpoints about this topic. 1.America will remain strong, but unmentioned, 2. America will be weakened by attack from outside forces, 3. America will have lost her influence from decay, and 4. America is weakened due to the Rapture. These are all possible scenarios, but as Ankerberg and Burroughs point out “ America is not mentioned in prophecy, America does not hold a prominent role in the Tribulation period, and America will change dramatically upon the occurrence of the rapture.

The sixth thing that Ankerberg and Burroughs discuss is What is Israel’s Future? The author’s point out that Israel has been physically restored to their land and that happened in 1948. The authors go on to say that God has made divine promises to Israel that have yet to be fulfilled but will be in the future.

The final thing that Burroughs and Ankerberg discuss is Making Your Future Certain. They tell the reader that good works cannot get a person to Heaven. They tell us that God became sin for us so that we might have an opportunity to go to Heaven. They tell us that all we need to do is Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and we will be saved. They tell us that we do not have to have a lot of faith to be saved. All it takes is just a little bit of faith. They go on to tell us that once we call on the name of the Lord we can and will be saved.

We are children of God if we have made Him Lord of our life.Reading this book has really challenged me in my walk with Christ. It has challenged to dig deep into the Word of God and to live a holy life because I know that Jesus is returning again and it could be at any moment.

Do the Work of An Evangelist: Fulfill thy Ministry- 2 Timothy 4

2011-03-03T01:10:00.000-08:00

Intro- I would rather win souls than be the greatest king or emperor on earth; I would rather win souls than be the greatest general that ever commanded an army; I would rather win souls than be the greatest poet, or novelist, or literary man that ever walked the earth. My one ambition in life is to win as many as possible. Oh, it is the only thing worth doing, to save souls, and men and women, we can all do it. It’s my business to preach the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s His business to bring results. These were the words of the great evangelist R.A. Torrey who had an international evangelistic ministry and who led many souls to Jesus Christ. These were the words of a True Evangelist.

In order to really see a revival in our churches, in our nation and in order to see a revival in evangelism, there are six principles that one must take hold of in order to truly make a difference in the Kingdom of God

First, One must have a love for souls- Acts 20:31 tells us that Paul for three years ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. This verse shows us the heart Paul had for souls and it opens to us one of the great secrets of Paul’s Power.

A. The Importance of Love for Souls

1. Because love for souls is an essential element of Christ-like character. Not to have love for souls is to be radically unlike Christ

2. Because love for souls is necessary to successful efforts for their salvation

3. Because lack of love for souls reveals either great hardness of the heart or inexcusable ignorance

B. How is love for souls manifested?

1. In a deep concern for their salvation

2. In earnest efforts for their salvation

3. In our being a constant lookout for opportunities to have some one

4. In going out to seek for them

5. In joy over lost souls saved

6. In sacrifices made to save them

7. In deep sorrow of soul for those who will not be saved. Too often are we provoked rather than sad

C. How do I obtain a love for lost souls?

-The great thing to keep in mind in seeking an answer to this question is that love for souls is the work of the Holy Spirit. But on what conditions does the Spirit impart it?

1. A deep and genuine desire on our part for a love for souls

2. Prayer. The prayer should be definite. Not merely for the work of the Holy Spirit in general, but for this specific and definite work of the Spirit. It seems to be a law of the Holy Spirit’s operation that He only gives that which we definitely see to be His work and definitely seek

3. The Spirit works through instrumentalities. The Truth. What Truth?

a. The value of the soul

b. The peril of the soul

c. Christ’s love for souls

II. One must understand the importance of soul winning. Proverbs 11:20 says The Fruit of the Righteous is a tree of life; but he that winneth souls is wise. Every wise man will make soul winning the business of life because:

A. Because it is the work Christ has appointed us to do- Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15- This is Christ’s commission to His disciples. The apostolic church undoubtedly understood that the commission was for the whole church and not merely to the officials. The idea of the church that soul-winning is the business of the pastor’s and the evangelist’s is utterly foreign to the New Testament ideas of the church.

B. Because it was the business of life with Jesus Christ and by making it the business of our lives we are following Him. Luke 19:10. No one has the right to call himself a follower of Christ who is not a soul winner, who is not going out to seek and save the lost.

C. Because it is the work in which we shall enjoy the unspeakable privilege of Christ’s personal presence. Matthew 28:20 says and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. It is a wonder that men pay so little attention to very stated condition of this promise.

D. Because it is the work for which the gift of the Holy Spirit is bestowed and in which we enjoy the fullness of the Spirit’s power. Acts 1:8. The gift of the Holy Spirit is bestowed for a special purpose and enjoyed in special work. That we may be witnesses, that we may have power in soul winning, not merely for our own personal blessing and enjoyment.

E. Because it is the work that produces the most beneficial results. James 5:20 says He which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death. It saves souls from death. Three things we must consider here

1. The value of that which is saved a soul. Mark 8:36 says For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

2. The second thing to notice is the awfulness of that from which the soul is saved, from death. Not a mere cessation of existence but the degradation of existence, eternal shame and infamy, agony.

3. That to which the soul is saved

- To happiness

- To Holiness

- To glory

- To fellowship and likeness to God

III. One must understand and feel the reality of Hell

A. Many times people church neglect preaching about Hell, but it our responsibility as ministers to preach on Hell because it is a very real place. Read parts of Luke 16 and Matthew 7:21-24- “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

B. Many times Jesus warns His listeners of the place called Hell

C. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost, and to provide salvation for an unregenerate world

D. Jesus illustrates the importance in Luke 5 of the importance of repentance and forgiveness when he heals the paralytic man of the palsy.

E. We must remember what it was like when we were lost in our sins and on our way to Hell. We must feel the darkness and torments of Hell.

IV. We must be genuine Christians if we want to reach the Lost

A. God hates lukewarm, and people are watching constantly, so be genuine!

B. Do you possess spiritual fruit in your life?

C. Does the Lost see Jesus living in your life?

D. We must be salt and we must be light in a dark world

E. We must understand that in order to reach the lost our lives must be pure and holy

F. The lost are looking to see a difference in your life

V. WE MUST PREACH THE WORD, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD!!!!

A. We must preach out again sin even it becomes unpopular to do so

B. We must preach repentance

C. We must preach the Word

D. There is no pleasure in the World that will bring satisfaction, Only Jesus will bring satisfaction

VI. In order to experience Holy Ghost Revival we must have the same Pentecostal Power that the first century church experienced. Simply put we must become a first century church in a twenty-first century world. This Pentecostal power is available for believers today if they will sell out and present their bodies a living sacrifice.

A.The Character of the Power- Acts 1:8-But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.". It is power for testimony and service

B.The Source of the Power- Acts 1:8. The Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God himself wielded the Sword of the Spirit

C.The Human conditions of the power- In other words what had the 120 done that prepared the way for and made certain the coming of the Holy Spirit in this Pentecostal Display of Power?

1.The Disciples were wholly surrendered to Christ

2.The Disciples were obedient

3.The Disciples recognized their need 1:14. There must be a clear recognition

4.The Disciples intensely desired. For ten days they bent their thought and prayer largely to this one point

5.The Disciples prayed

6.The Disciples believed. They expected.

D. How was the Spirit manifested in their lives?

1. Spoke in the Spirit’s power. They gave up their own strength and wisdom and used God’s

2. Testified to the mighty works of God, No talk of self, self was lost sight of

3. They preached Christ vs. 22-35

E. Results of the Spirit moving

1. Multitude amazed, marveled perplexed

2. Some mocked v.13

3. Men pricked to the very core of their being v.37. Genuine conviction. The need of this day

4. Genuine conversion vs. 41,42

VII- Conclusion- Can we have this power and similar results in our churches today? The answer is yes! I truly believe that God wants to revive this nation and revive the world! My soul waits upon God, for my expectation is from Him! I rejoice in the fact that you have read this post ; I rejoice in the amount of prayer that has been laid for me as I preach the Word. And friends, God has heard your prayers and is going to do something great in our midst! I say this from no confidence of my own, but because I believe I have heard the voice of God, and I say this as a prophet of God believing that you and I are going to see one of the mightiest movements in the history of the church of Jesus Christ on earth! I believe God wants me to spread this gospel throughout this land and to the whole world! I still believe that mass evangelism works and I still believe that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. Thanks and be blessed!

Reverend Tony Workman, Host of Reviving Your Day!

Preacher, Preach the Word!

2011-01-03T23:59:00.000-08:00

Preachers, we are not called to build empires, we are not called to be accepted! We are called to preach the Word with dunamis (power) for the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. We are to preach a bloody Gospel because people must lay down their religious cloaks and run to the cross and repent of their sins in order to truly be saved. Preachers should not preach to accomodate people. Preachers should preach to please God and by doing so sometimes you will have to say things that are tough. But I would rather preach the Word and make someone mad and then they get saved in the future, then preach to accomodate and people die in their sins and go to Hell.

One of the biggest sins in the modern day church is one of toleration. Jesus most certainly did not tolerate sin. In fact he confronted the "religious" and told them they belonged to Satan. He called them white-washed tombs! Much of what we hear in the world today is the idea that everything is going to be alright. The truth is that some people who come to church are not even there to hear from God. They are there for their own motives. and the last thing we need is for the church to capitulate and look more and more like the world. The reason why the country is the way it is because there are not enough Christians with the backbones to stand up and speak against the atrocities of our nation. Preacher, it is your responsibility to call sin, sin. When so-called Churches start ordaining Homosexuals there is a problem. Churches that tolerate homosexuals have Ichabod written all over them. The Bible makes it clear where homosexuals are heading. I refuse as a preacher of the gospel to sit around and watch my country go to hell in a handbasket! So my question is, who is with me! Who is willing to take a stand and see another Great Awakening. I have a television show called Reviving Your Day! The whole purpose of that show is to Preach the Word, Preach the Cross and Preach Redemption to a lost and dying world. I ask you preacher to open your pulpits and let's take this nation back for the glory of God. Too long has the church been asleep! It is time to wake up! It is time for spiritual awakening!

Christ in the Old Testament!

2010-12-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

Christ is the promised seed of Eden. He is the sheltering rock of Noah. He is the Ram offered in Isaac's stead. He is the Passover Lamb of Exodus. He is the perfect sacrifice of Leviticus. He is the life-giving Serpent lifted on the pole in Numbers. He is the accessible refuge of Deuteronomy. He is the gracious, compassionate Saviour of Joshua. He is the mighty man of valor of Judges. He is the kinsman Redeemer of Ruth. He is the Conqueror of Samuel. He is the vigilant administrator of Chronicles. He is the prayerful Builder of Nehemiah. He is the wise Leader of Ezra. He is the prevailing Intercessor in Esther. He is the delivering Daysman of Job. He is the patient Sufferer of Psalms. He is the upright Son of Proverbs. He is the wise man of Ecclesiastes. He is the attractive Beloved of the Song of Solomon. He is the beautiful messenger of Isaiah. He is the weeping prophet of Jeremiah. He is the glorious One of Ezekiel. He is the cut-off prince of Daniel. He is the refreshing dew of Hosea. He is the resolute Judge of Joel. He is the raiser of Amos. He is the satisfying Physician of Obadiah. He is the afflicted Substitute- of Jonah. He is the Caster-Away of sins of Micah. He is the irresistable Stronghold of Zechariah. Last, but not least, He is the amazing Refiner of Malachi.

A Glimpse Into A Preacher's Heart (Tony Workman's Story)

2010-11-28T17:20:00.000-08:00

I have lived in Warner Robins my whole life and there has been some good memories. It is here where I have forged memories with my Mother and my Father who mean the world to me. I graduated from High School at CFCA and those were some great times. I went to College and originally was going to be a History teacher and a football coach. However, God called me to the ministry, and I left Valdosta State to pursue ministry because I most definitely heard from Almighty God concerning the call to preach the Word. Opportunities started to come my way thanks to Brother Tim Millwood and the Association setting up to opportunity for me to preach at Shady Grove Baptist Church. From the moment I stood behind that pulpit I knew that indeed God had called me. The feeling that a minister gets standing behind the pulpit cannot be explained. I then after much prayer decided to move to Rossville, Georgia which is about fifteen minutes away from Chattanooga. I went to seminary, and learned so much about how to operate a ministry. I learned that pastoral ministry is so much more than just preaching. Preaching is important and I love to preach with all my heart. In fact, preaching the Word of God is my passion. I could preach every day, every week and never grow weary. While I was in Chattanooga I met some wonderful people at Dry Valley Baptist Church and they took me in and treated me like family. They allowed me to use my gifts and they allowed me to preach quite frequently. Well, I left Rossville and moved back to Warner Robins. Since I have been back to town I have gotten some preaching opportunities but not as much as I would have liked. I left the opportunity to make a good salary teaching because I heard a Word from God. Since I have been back in town (and that has been a little over a year), I have to admit things have not been easy. In fact, for a long time I was depressed and often questioned why I was not getting many opportunities. Well about four to five months ago things seemed to change. A man noticed me on facebook and gave me a call and asked me to be on his television show. I could not believe it. So I went and through that I met a young man named Jeremiah Knipe who works at a television station in Columbus. I got to be on the show God's Word Today and God used that to really open up doors in the Columbus, Georgia area. I now have a TV show called Reviving Your Day and I pray that it really has an impact. I have preached at Providence Church in Columbus which I loved, and have also preached here in town at a church called Mount Sinai Fellowship. I want you to know and I want people to know that I love Jesus and that He is everything to me. I also know that the Devil attacks God's servants. The Devil is attacking me, and sometimes it is hard in ministry because you have to live from day to day and do not know sometimes how you are going to financially make it. It is funny how most of my ministry opportunities are so far away. I praise God for the opportunities. I just wish that I could preach more in the country, and be able to financially support my needs. I do not ask for much. I am not money motivated. Please pray for me, and pray that God would lay it on some pastor's heart in this community where I live and give me more opportunities to minister and to preach. I believe that the Word of God is inerrant. I believe that the Word is authoritative and sufficient. I believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven! I just want others to see my passion, I just want opportunities to preach the Word. I have a fire shut up in these bones! Please be in prayer!

Theological Foundations Lived Out!

2010-08-23T05:34:00.000-07:00

The Bible Lived Out!

The Bible transcends all cultures and all times. It is apparent that the Bible should be the framework upon which society itself should look to when it comes to making laws. We do live in a world that is at this time for the most part pluralistic. In others word, all roads have truth and all roads ultimately lead to eternal life. Because the Bible is true and it never affirms any falsehood, it is our clear God-given responsibility to make a stand for Jesus Christ in a world where there is no absolute truth and in a world that believes that ethics does not a absolute standard. When one does not believe that God's Word is completely trustworthy, than one can not be an effective educator. It is our responsibility to take a stand against the problems in our society, because the Bible tells us to earnestly contend for the faith. So I do believe theology dictates context. What someone believes dictates how they are going to act. If this statement really took place in America there would be absolute reformation in our country. The question then becomes, why are we not doing something about it? If we want our country to change and turn back to God than we as educators need to start applying our knowledge. In other words, do not just be hearers of the Word, but be doers of the Word. We can have all the theological foundations in place but if we do not live them out then everything we know is meaningless.

Diversity Lived Out!

I was at one time a minister of a church in Columbus known as the The House of God (THOG). It was a great experience in my life. I learned so much under Dr.Jamie Sanks and it greatly impacted my ministry! THOG'S goal is to be a House of Prayer for all nations. Their desire is to be a multi-racial/multi-ethnic church where everyone matters, everyone is welcome, and everyone belongs. It is true that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in all of America. THOG will attempt to break down the barrier of racism which is still a problem in our country and in the world. The fact is when people get saved, they now belong to the Kingdom of God, and so everyone regardless of color should be treated as such. Their church wants to be a melting pot or a blending of all cultures. They are not going to contend or fight over preferences. God did not see skin color so why should we. We are the body of Christ and we must be unified and we must not let individualism get in the way because in the Kingdom of God there is but one ruler and He is Jesus Christ. I believe that every church in America should pay attention to what THOG is doing, because they truly have a heart for God!

Evangelism Lived Out!

A humble spirit is an essential character quality and prerequisite for soul evangelism! Without humility, all people will see is an individual that cannot relate to them because the individual thinks they have all the answers. Being able to identify with people's need is very important. Being humble means that in order for true soul evangelism to take place than the church must understand that no one is perfect. Everyone has struggles and has things that are plaguing their life. Humility is a must for soul- evangelism. Realizing that we all need constant grace in our lives is so important. None of us have completely arrived and if we have we should be in Heaven. If we would just be honest with non-believers and tell them that we have problems as well we would reach people more than to act as if we are better and we do not have any problems at all. We must be honest to people if we want to reach them for Jesus. That is what we must do in order to reach a lost and dying world for Jesus Christ!

Education Gone Wrong!

2010-08-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

Personally, I think that current state of Christian Education in our nation today is very poor. It is true that an individual's Christian education should start at the home. Unfortunately, in this day and age most kids come from broken homes and they are not taught the fundamentals of the Christian faith. When the father is not present in the home there is something wrong. When parents do not make there children go to Sunday School there is something wrong. Christian Education begins at the home and unless America has a revival in their homes then Christian Education will suffer. It is much harder for churches to reach young people when they come from broken homes and when they hear in school that they are a product of primordial ooze that evolved over millions of years into what they are today. We as Christian Educators need to get back to the basics and teach young people and new converts how to walk and talk like a Christian. That was the whole purpose of Horace Bushnell. We need some more Horace Bushnell's today. We need some people who will challenge the way things are done in society and make an impact for the Kingdom of God. We need some godly parents who will set examples for their children and then we will see revival unlike ever before in our homes and in Christian Education.

When I compare the present state of Christian education to how it was practiced in previous eras (even the form of religious education in the Old Testament), there are some elements or traits that we have lost that must be rediscovered. First of all, as I have stated before, we have lost the importance of the family. The family is essential for Christian education. Without the family, Christian education cannot be effective because education starts at the home. Furthermore, we have lost or greatly under-valued the authority of the Bible. It is true that the Bible is the most sold book in history yet it is the least read. Simply put, we need some educators who will teach the Word of God line by line, precept upon precept in order to impact the next generation, and those who are considered Biblically illiterate.

One of the main problems we have in our educational framework is existentialism! Although there are many things that existentialist's and Christian's have in common, there are some things that Christians and existentialists would disagree on. First, existentialists question the authority of Scripture. The Word of God says that all Scripture is inspired and is profitable for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. In other words, Scripture has all the authority. Scripture is not only authoritative, but it is sufficient. Secondly existentialist' attack a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 says I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father except by me. These two things alone makes existentialist' wrong. However, what could be good for Christian educators is to understand the importance of critical thinking which was advocated by existentialist'. So there are some things that are good about existentialism. But it's ideas on the authority of Scripture and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is heretical. The most logical thing to do for Education in our country is to use the principles that coincide with Scripture and to shun those ideas that are contrary to Scripture.

A Jam from Tony Workman

2010-08-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

The Resurrection and Deity of Jesus

2010-07-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

Introduction

The Resurrection is what makes Christianity different than all the other religions in the world. Without the Resurrection, Christianity would have nothing to stand on because Jesus Christ would have been just a mere mortal man. But can Christianity be validated? Did Jesus Christ really resurrect from the dead and authenticate His claim to be God? There are at least three reasons why Jesus rose from the dead and they are the following: 1.) The fact that so many people testify of seeing Jesus after His resurrection, 2.) The fact that the apostles were willing to die for what they believed in. and 3.) Paul’s conversion from being a murderer of Christians to preaching the resurrection of Jesus. These are the three reasons that will be discussed in detail in this paper.

Post Resurrection Appearances

The fact that Jesus appeared to so many people after the Resurrection authenticates Jesus’ claim to be God in the flesh. Jesus appeared to over 500 people after His resurrection. The fact that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time is more than enough evidence to suggest that Jesus did in fact resurrect from the dead.

J.N.D. Anderson writes of the testimony of the appearances:
“The most dramatic way of dismissing the evidence would be to say that these stories were just mere fabrications, that they were pure lies. But, so far as I know, not a single critic today would take such an attitude. In fact, it would really be an impossible position. Think of the number of witnesses, over 500. Think of the character of the witnesses, men and women who gave the world the highest ethical teaching it has ever known, and who even on the testimony of their enemies lived it out in their lives. Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence- and then attempting to attribute the dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication they were trying to foist upon the world. That simply wouldn’t make sense.”

So we see that that the character of the witnesses who saw Jesus after His resurrection was exemplary. In fact, these people were transformed by what they saw. Josh Mcdowell in his book Evidence for Christianity gives a list of all the people that Jesus appeared to and they are the following: Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, to women returning from the tomb, to Peter later in the day, to the Emmaus disciples, to the apostles without Thomas, to the apostles with Thomas present, to the seven by the Lake of Tiberias, to a multitude of 500-plus believers on a Galilean mountain, to James, to the eleven, at the Ascension, to Paul, to Stephen, to Paul in the temple, and to John on Patmos. The fact that Jesus appeared to so many people is evidence for the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead
Persecution and Death of Apostles

The second reason why Jesus rose from the dead is the fact that the apostles were willing die for what they believed in. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek state that:
“the New Testament writers suffered persecution and death when they could have saved themselves by recanting. If they would have made up the Resurrection story they certainly would have said so when they were about to be crucified (Peter), stoned (James), or beheaded (Paul). But no one recanted- eleven out of the twelve were martyred for their faith (the only survivor was John, who was exiled to the Greek island of Patmos). Why would they die for a known lie?”

Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, had this to say about the apostles:
“Twelve powerless men, peasants really, were facing not just embarrassment or political disgrace, but beatings, stonings, execution. Every single one of the disciples insisted, to their dying deaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead. Don’t you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the authorities? None did.”

The apostles would not have subjected themselves to all the persecution and ultimately execution if the resurrection did not happen. The fact that they would not recant and went to their death suggests that they had a life-changing experience. Jesus really did rise from the dead and the people who saw him literally shook the foundations of the world for the cause of Christ.
Some critics suggest that the apostles stole the body of Christ and that Jesus really did not rise from the dead. Again, why would the disciples not come clean to the authorities and admit that they stole the body before they died. The body was not stolen. Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead. Others state that Jesus did not actually die. They state that he swooned. Now this argument can be taken apart because of the brutality of Jesus’ death. Crucifixion was a brutal way for someone to die. It is a known fact that Jesus’ friends and his enemies thought he was dead. Geisler states that “the Romans, who were brutal executioners, whipped and beat Jesus brutally to the point of collapse. They then drove heavy, wrought iron nails through his wrists and feet, and plunged a spear through His side. They didn’t break his legs to speed death because they knew he was already dead.” When Jesus was laid into that tomb there was no doubt that he was dead. So knowing that fact and knowing that the disciples were willing to stake their lives on the fact that Jesus died, was buried and that he rose again is pretty solid evidence to suggest that Jesus literally rose from the dead.

Paul’s Conversion

The third reason why Jesus rose from the dead is Paul’s conversion from being a murderer of Christians to being the greatest missionary who ever lived. Paul, who at one time was known as Saul of Tarsus, was present in the stoning of Stephen. He was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians when a bright light knocked him off his horse and blinded him. Paul heard a voice and questioned the voice asking the voice who it was, and the response was, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.

According to Ed Hindson and Ergun Caner,
“ recent scholars agree, for a variety of reasons, that Paul is the most reliable witness to Jesus’ resurrection appearances. Once an adamant adversary of Christianity, Paul explains that he jettisoned his unbelief after he saw the risen Jesus. Given his conversion from the ranks of Jewish scholarship to one of Christianity’s greatest scholars, Paul is certainly viewed as an excellent witness to the resurrection appearances.”

Paul was taught by the great Jewish teacher Gamaliel, and was on track to possibly become a member of the Sanhedrin. His scholarship was brilliant and many suggest that he had a P.H.D in his time. The fact that he was so opposed to Christianity only to suddenly become a Christian suggests that he indeed had something miraculous happen to him. He did have an encounter with Jesus Christ and that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that He is indeed Deity.

Conclusion

To summarize what has already been stated Douglas Groothius declares:
“The New Testament reverberates and glistens with the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. The Gospels record Jesus’ teaching that he must be betrayed, killed, and rise again. Then they all testify that his tomb was empty and that he appeared to his disciples as he said. The Book of Acts records the preaching of the resurrected Christ as its central fact. The various New Testament letters and the book of Revelation would melt into nothingness without a resurrected Jesus. The resurrection is attested to by four separate Gospels, the history of the early church, by the letters of Paul, Peter, John, James, Jude, and the Letter to the Hebrews. There is a diversity of credible witnesses. Since the New Testament volumes show considerable fitness in terms of historical reliability… this is a good initial reason to accept the resurrection as an objective reality.”

C.S. Lewis writes this regarding Jesus:
“I am here trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

I choose to believe He is God. He is my Lord and my Savior and I will preach that He rose from the dead till the day I leave this body. Even if there was no evidence to suggest that He rose from the dead I would still believe because I have faith. Faith is believing God when you can not see the tangible reality. I was not there when Jesus rose from the dead, but I have the Word of God that tells me that there were godly men who lived with him and saw him after he rose from the dead. That is enough evidence for me.

Speaking the Truth in Love: Praising the Lord

2010-07-26T12:13:00.001-07:00

I think what we need to do is just praise the Lord for what He has done, Hallelujah! We need to thank Him for saving our soul! Jesus Christ did not have to die on that cross. He could have called legions of angels to come down and then humanity would be damned forever! Oh thank you Jesus, for saving a sinner such as I from a devil's Hell! Thank you for putting a new song in my heart. We need to praise the Lord for another day of life. Life is precious and we are not promised another day. We need to thank the Lord for blessing us with provision for our needs! We have a bed to sleep in, clothes on our backs, and food to eat. Thank you Lord for your provision. Is it not great that we serve a kind and compassionate God. We serve a God that Loves us and wants us to commune with him. Oh God we give you praise. Nothing else can satisfy. The things of the world do not satisfy. Only Jesus can bring satisfaction. Saints, we need some people who are addicted to Jesus. We need some preachers who preach Christ and Him crucified. We need some men and women who will declare war on the Devil. The Devil is a defeated foe and we do not have to live in defeat. We serve an Almighty God who is more powerful than the Devil. We praise the Lord's Holy Name. He is most excellent and worthy to be praised. So just praise and watch your joy be restored!

Speaking the Truth in Love: Preaching the Word

2010-07-21T03:04:00.000-07:00

Too long have we been waiting for one another to begin!The time for waiting is past! The hour of God has struck! War is declared! In God's Holy Name let us arise and build! The God of Heaven, He will fight for us as we for Him. We will not build on the sand, but on the bedrock of the sayings of Christ, and the gates and the minions of Hell shall not prevail against us. Should such men as we fear? Before the whole world, yes, before the sleepless, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God, We will venture our all for Him, We will live and we will die for Him and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God than live trusting in man. And when we come to this position the battle is already won, and the end of the glorious campaign in sight. We will have the real holiness of God, not the sickly stuff of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts; We will have a masculine holiness, one of daring and faith and works for Jesus Christ.

Christ's call is to feed the hungry, not the full; To save the lost, not the stiff-necked; Not to call the scoffers, but sinners to repentance; Not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches, and cathedrals at home, in which to rock Christian professors to sleep, by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers and artistic musical performances, but to raise living Churches of souls among the destitute, to capture men from the Devil's clutches, and snatch them away from the very jaws of Hell, to enlist and train them for Jesus and to make them into an Almighty Army of God! But this can only be accomplished by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered Holy Ghost religion, where neither Church nor state, neither man nor traditions are worshiped or preached, but only Christ and Him crucified. Not to confess Christ by fancy collars, church steeples, or richly embroidered altar clothes, but by reckless sacrifice and heroism in the foremost trenches.

Above was quotations taken from the ministry of CT Studd. I am convinced that America needs revival. I am also convinced that God wants me and other young men to be vessels that God uses to spark a revival in this nation. To do that, we need an audience of people. I have a desire to preach the Word of God and no one will tell me otherwise. There are young men that I know right now that want to preach their hearts out but they have no where to do it. For some reason pastors will not open their pulpits to young preachers. At least that is what I have experienced since I have graduated from seminary. Maybe some have had different experiences

Church should be about worshiping the one and true God. This is why I have such a passion for people and for preaching the Word of God. I sincerely love people. I have a passion for souls and I have a passion for God's people. So my challenge to you is to love people. Love them because doing so will please God. Let people know that you genuinely care, and be truthful to people. Honesty is always the best policy. I do not know what life holds for me. I am completely at God's mercy, and He can do whatever He wants to do. So as of now I am letting the Church of God know that I can not quit no matter how heartbroken I feel at this present time. I do sometimes despair of life itself, but you know so did Paul. He had times where he felt like quitting and throwing in the towel, but He held onto the promise that God would deliver Him and come through for Him in the end. The Christian life is not easy. It is full of setbacks and many trials, but the Lord in His vast knowledge is molding us and shaping us to be more and more like Him. I have to admit that these past few weeks have been the roughest of my entire life. My faith has been tested, and my hopes and dreams have been crushed. I am living the exact words that I preached in a small church in Hawkinsville just a few weeks ago when I told them to never quit. I loved that church that I preached in, and I loved those people with all of my heart. My problem is I get too attached to the people of God that when something does not work out it devastates me. I wanted to be at that church for a long time, but it did not work out. Did I question God? Absolutely. Do I understand why I am not able to be in that church for a long period of time? No. But God does. H e is sovereign and He alone knows all the answers. So if you have been devastated by circumstances that did not go your way, know that you are not alone. You can call on me and I will listen. I love you all, even the people who have hurt me. I wish them nothing but the best in life. Was that hard for my flesh to say? Absolutely. But the Spirit Man in me over-rules the flesh and tells me to love with all of my heart. I pray that God will give me and other young men pulpits to speak in, so we can proclaim the love of Jesus and that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. Pray for me and I will do the same for you.

Your Brother in Christ, Tony Workman

Starting a Church

2010-07-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

I will say that as a preacher, I am not here for your comfort! I am a preacher of the Word! The Word has a way of stinging, especially if it is the Truth! You see many people want to have there ears tickled in this society! Churches do not want to hear some Hell-Fire and Brimstone preacher to stand in there pulpits and preach repent or perish in the... See More flames! Jeremiah was not accepted in His day and He spoke the Truth and the people did not want to hear it, so what I can expect when I take the pulpit! I was told by a man that some Churches would throw me out because they would not like what I was preaching! I say let them throw me out! It proves that they have Ichabod written over there church! I do not play the political games that many churches play! I am a Jesus thumping radical that just happens to know that there is many people that are traveling down the broad road that leads to destruction! My preaching may not be popular! I might even come across to you as angry! But the reality is I am passionate about the Word and I am passionate about souls or I would not speak the Truth! Many people think that Jesus was all about love and all about tolerance! My friends, that is not the case! He called out people many times by calling them white-washed tombs and he called them sons of the devil. That is straight to the point and that came from Jesus! He is nothing to mess around with. Either you are with Him or you belong to Lucifer! It is your choice! You are either a child of God or a child of Satan! So I will tell you people once and for all that I will not back down from anyone, and I do not care whether you like me or not, because ultimately all that matters is what Jesus thinks! I will preach what He tells me to preach, and I will do so with no shame or regret! Many people know me as a personality on facebook, but my question is do you want to know me as a person? If you do then I am going to attempt to start a church! It will not be about politics! It will just be about Jesus! Young preachers that do not get a chance to preach will be preaching! I do not believe it is right for a pastor to hoard the pulpit! I believe that pastors should allow young men preach the Word from time to time! Otherwise, there gifts are not being used properly! At the church that I want to start, young men will be able to stir up the gifts that they have and they will be able to use them! Now I will make sure they are doctrinally sound. I will call on talented singers to sing for Jesus! Now it will only be for a volunteer basis, but ministry is not about the money! It is about the souls of people that are going to Hell! I want young men and women who can play a guitar and sing! I want to start a reformation in this country! I want people to start Honoring the Propitiation again in this nation! I want elderly people to be a part as well! I have a heart for everyone! I want soldiers who are ready to make a difference! All of this will happen if you guys would help to make that happen! I am asking you to help me in this endeavor! I can not do it on my own! I am not a perfect man! If you want the perfect minister, look elsewhere! I have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God numerous times! But if you want a man who has a heart for God and is dedicated to preaching the Truth, then I want you to strongly consider joining with me and help make this a reality!

The Problem of Evil

2010-06-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of time, there has been a war raging in the cosmos. It is a war that starts in heaven when Lucifer decides that he wants to be God. Lucifer was God’s most beautiful creation. He walked before the throne room daily and was considered an archangel. But Lucifer became jealous of God, and it was out of that jealously that Lucifer convinced one third of the angels to join his efforts to overthrow God and become God himself. It was at this point He ceased being an archangel and became the Prince of Darkness. The Devil’s revolt resulted in him being cast out of Heaven by God and ever since Satan and God have been enemies.
In our time we look forward to the day that evil will no longer hold sway in the world. We long for a heaven on earth. And one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth. But until that day comes when evil is finally no longer, evil still remains and causes much pain on the earth. In God’s original creation everything that God created was good. In fact for a time, humanity itself knew no sin. Then man sinned, and evil manifested itself into the world. Evil can be defined “as the refusal to accept the true God as God. True evil elevates itself or another to replace God.” The question often arises, if God being holy and just knew that evil and sin would come to the earth than why did He not prevent it or stop it? There are three reasons why God allows evil to continue in the world and they are the following: 1.) God created man with free will and thus gave man the ability to choose to accept Him or reject Him, 2.) The fact that evil and suffering is so prevalent in our lives reveals the fact that we have our own inadequacies and that we need God, and 3.) God allows evil because He does not want His children to get used to the present life because as the Bible says, we are just pilgrims and sojourners passing through and as believers, Heaven is our final eternal state.
God created man with free will and thus gave man the ability to choose to accept Him or reject Him. God did not create evil. God did create persons with freedom who could practice it. So we are who actualize evil, not Him. He could have created a world without the possibility of evil, but He preferred a world with free choice. God created us with the power of choice.

To quote from Ravi Zacharias,
“What would it take to create a loving world void of evil? A world in which love is capable of meaningful expression and experience would also imply a world in which there is choice. If someone tells you that they love you, those words mean something because they are freely given. If you learned that someone had told you they loved you but that they had been forced to say it, their words would not mean very much. Thus, if we want to speak of a loving world, we must also speak of a world in which choices are exercised. And in such a world, there is also the possibility of choosing a course of action that is not loving, i.e. evil."

True love implies and demands a free choice! Or else you would have a fixed environment in which humanity would be robots. Alvin Plantinga claimed the following:
“If God creates human beings with true, morally significant free will (where humans can freely decide to act in ways that really do advance goodness in the world, or really do cause evil in the world against self, others or world), and if God wants a world in which there are significant amounts of moral goodness, it’s possible that God cannot get that kind of world without significant amounts of moral badness as well. After all, if people are left free by God, then the morally significant states of the world will in large part be up to the decisions of humans, not up to God.”

The fact that evil and suffering is so prevalent in our lives reveals the fact that we have our own inadequacies and that we need God. Simply put, all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. When Adam and Eve sinned, God promised that one day there would be one coming that would be a sacrifice for sin and would make a way for people to have there relationship restored to God. That was done when Jesus died on Calvary. Jesus took all of humanities sins, and bore them for all of humanity so that people might have a chance to be saved and inherit eternal life. We see here that “Christ’s atonement guarantees the final end of evil and suffering”. Alcorn says, “The drama of evil and suffering in Christ’s sacrifice addresses the very heart of the problem of evil and suffering. One day it will prove to be the final answer.” The answer to the problem of evil and suffering according to Alcorn,“is not a philosophy, but a Person; not words, but the Word.” Jesus Christ is the answer to the problem of evil. Only He can help us with the feeling of inadequacies and the feelings of hopelessness. Only He can save humanity from their sins. Only Jesus can provide true lasting peace.

God allows evil because He does not want His children to get used to the present life because as the Bible says, we are just pilgrims and sojourners passing through and as believers, Heaven is our final eternal state. If everything was perfect and no problems ever surfaced and there was no pain in life then people would not have to rely upon God anymore for anything. Alcorn points out that “in order to appreciate our eternal future, we will remember the sufferings of the present.” Because we have pain and suffering, we must rely upon an Almighty God. Human beings do not have all the answers. Dinesh D’ Sousa writes.

The only way for us to really triumph over evil and suffering is to live forever in a place where those things do not exist. It is the claim of Christianity that there is such a place and that is available to all who seek it. No one can deny that, if this claim is true, then evil and suffering are exposed as temporary hardships and injustices. They are as transient as our brief, mortal lives. In that case God has shown us a way to prevail over evil and suffering, which are finally overcome in the life to come.”

So in reality, in the big picture evil and suffering is only temporary. So every trial and every tribulation that we may face in life is well worth it, because one day those that believe in Jesus will receive new resurrected bodies that will no longer be corrupted. We will be in Heaven where Jesus is, and there will be no more sin. Revelation 21:1-7 best illustrates what will happen in the end: 1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

In conclusion, we have seen the three reasons why God allows evil to exist in our present world. According to Ed Hindson and Emir Caner,
“What evil forces us to conclude is either God is not good, or that our conception of God’s relationship toward us needs serious rethinking. The evidence about evil drives us decisively to this latter conclusion. God uses evil, suffering, and disorder to drive us to Himself. If He gave only good, we would be self-satisfied. If he had given immediate death when we sinned, He would be just. That He gives us partial goodness and partial suffering now forms a texture of hope that in the future, He will in fact make all things right in a final consummation and restoration. God is not through: He will continue to work on us, like a persistent sculptor working the metal with hard blows and constant lighter corrections, to help us become worthy of happiness if we receive Him and submit to His plan. On most occasions, it seems, we do not know why God allows certain evils. But we know someone who knows these things, and we can therefore trust Him to make good on His promise that “he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

The Battle Is On: The Battle For Truth

2010-03-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

The Church of Christ is continually represented under the figure of an army; yet its Captain is the Prince of Peace; its object is the establishment of peace, and its soldiers are men of a peaceful disposition. The spirit of war is at the extremely opposite point to the spirit of the gospel.

Yet, nevertheless, the church on earth has, and until the second advent must be, the church militant, the church armed, the church warring, the church conquering. And how is this?

It is in the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.

- C.H. Spurgeon

The Wound of the Beast in the Tribulation

2010-03-08T15:33:00.000-08:00

Harris, Gregory R. “ The Wound of the Beast in the Tribulation”. Bibliotheca Sacra 156 (October-December 1999) pp.459-68

Introduction

Gregory H. Harris, Associate Professor of Biblical Exposition at Southeastern Baptist Theological College, endeavors to show the reader through solid exegesis what the Wound of the Beast refers to. Although he reveals his own viewpoint, Harris shows different viewpoints because he wants the reader to be objective as possible in determining what possible viewpoint makes the most sense hermeneutically speaking. Harris presents a treatise that shows he has truly mastered the subject. Harris’s explanation of all the views is significant because this event described in the Book of Revelation is extremely important in Biblical Eschatology. How a person interprets Revelation is important and that is why Harris presents all the evidence and not just his own viewpoint. This writing is not polemical. He is not waging war on any particular view, nor is he insulting any particular view in which he points out. He wants people to know that this event is important because it will cause the world at large to worship the beast, who is considered by most evangelical commentators to be the Antichrist (459).

Summary

Harris poses a question when he asks, who is the Beast who will receive the wound (459)? He then presents to the reader five views that could potentially be the interpretation of this particular question and they are the following: 1.) The Nero Redivivus View, 2.)The Non Personal View, 3.) The Reincarnation View, 4.) The Revived Roman Empire View, and finally 5.) The Antichrist View.

The Nero Redivivus View, (held from the preterist viewpoint that postulates that the entire book of Revelation has already been fulfilled), states that John and the early church expected an evil Roman Caesar to return to life, which most people believe to be the emperor Nero ( 460). There are several factors that explain why so many people hold to this view. First, there was the view that Nero committed suicide with the help of the freedman. Not everyone however, believed in his death (460). They believed that during that time he faked his death and would make a triumphant return and destroy his enemies ( 460). In this sense he would be healed from a fatal wound and brought back to life (460). In response to this view, Harris postulates that this view is only a theory. He says that the fact that most Christians in that day and time who held to the view that Nero was the Beast that was mortally wounded in Revelation is understandable due to the intense persecution they went through during his reign of terror. Harris also says that this view does not adequately explain the concept of deception found in Revelation 13 (461). After all, the Antichrist will be accepted at first and Nero would never be accepted by Christians or non Christians for that matter.

The second view that Harris discusses in detail is the Non Personal View. This view states that the wound is a spiritualized reference to evil forces that persecuted the early church, despite having received a deadly blow, and that they involve no future reference (462). Harris questions this view by asking the question, how would the increase of evil promote worldwide amazement and the worship of the beast and Satan (462)?

The third view is known as the Reincarnation View and this view holds that the wounded beast refers to the reincarnation of some individual such as Nero or Judas Iscariot. Harris goes on to say that this view is different from the Nero Redivivus View because the Nero Redivivus View points to Nero being resurrected from the dead. However, it can be said that this view can not be scriptural because the Bible says that when a person dies, then the only thing that is left is judgment. Harris points out that Satan does not need a reincarnated person anyways (462).

The fourth view that Harris points out to the public is that of the Revived Roman Empire View. This view means that the great Roman Empire which fell would be revived in the end of days. Harris goes on to say that this view is supported by Scripture when Daniel 4 makes mention of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, with the response being that after Nebuchadnezzar’s rule would come a empire stronger than his (463). Also Harris points out that Daniel’s dream of the four beasts is significant because the fourth beast is said to be a fourth kingdom, which turns out to be the revived Roman Empire. Thus the wound of death that will be healed refers to the revived Roman Empire, and not the Antichrist.
The fifth view and the final view that is mentioned is the Antichrist View. This view states that an individual that has yet to appear on the world scene will arise and will receive the wound. He will be satanically resurrected and the world will be amazed and will worship the beast (464). Harris concludes that it is indeed possible that this passage in Revelation 13 refers to an individual who will be murdered then resurrected (468). After all, Satan is the imitator of Jesus Christ. However, it is not clear whether Satan will have the power to resurrect him from the dead unless God gives him the power.

Critical Evaluation

This work written by Gregory Harris gives much information concerning the different views concerning the wound of the Beast. Where he fails in this treatise is that he does not go into detail about the Antichrist. It would be important to know what other scholars think about this important view. It seemed like there was a little bias in his work, but not so much that it ruins his entire treatise. His use of Scripture to make his point was the strength of this article. It is not hard to figure out what view he holds to however. It is apparent that he holds to the Antichrist View. Overall, this work of eschatology would cause everyone that reads it to use Biblical understanding and wisdom in finding the best meaning when it comes to Revelation 13 and the wound of the Beast.
Conclusion
The Wound of the Beast in the Tribulation, when it is truly dissected should never lean toward an allegorical interpretation. Instead, it should be taken as literal, and in the context of Revelation 13, it refers to an individual man, (the beast out of the sea) who will receive a wound and will miraculously be resurrected. The only other plausible view is the Revived Roman Empire View, but again context is very important in Revelation 13, and with all the facts out there, it is with the utmost certainty that a individual man that has not been revealed on earth is the one who receives the wound, and not the Revived Roman Empire.

A Critique Of The Preterist View of Revelation 13 And Nero

2010-03-08T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hitchcock, L. Mark, “A Critique Of The Preterist View of Revelation 13 And Nero,” Bibliotheca Sacra 164 (July-September 2007), 341-56

Introduction

Mark L. Hitchcock, pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, is the author of this article. Within this article Hitchcock takes apart the preterist viewpoint and critiques it using scripture in order to provide the correct interpretation. Within this article Hitchcock critiques what Kenneth Gentry said concerning Nero as the Antichrist in the book of Revelation, which comes from the preterist viewpoint. Kenneth Gentry He comes up with seven reasons with why he does not believe in the preterist position.

Summary

Preterism, according to Hitchcock, is “the view that the Book of Revelation does not predict yet-future eschatological events but events that were fulfilled before and in the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in A.D. 70 (341).” According to most preterists, Nero is the beast in Revelation 13. So according to this, this means that “Revelation had to have been written before these events occurred which was in the early sixties (341).” So with this knowledge, Hitchcock presents the four arguments that early date supporters rely on to support their view that Nero was the beast.

The first argument depicted is Nero and the Number 666. The number 666 is of course the mark of the beast. One of the most common interpretations of 666 is that … “ six is mankind’s number, which is one number short of God’s perfect number of seven (342).” There is also a symbolic view in which the meaning of 666 … involves some form of gematria, the rabbinic Hebrew form for cryptogrammic riddles in which the numerical value of letters in a proper name are added up to arrive at a numerical value for the name (342).” So advocates of an early date for Revelation use the gematria to identify Nero as the beast of Revelation 13 ( 343). But as Hitchcock points out, the “numerical value of Nero’s name in Greek is 1005 (343).” So what the preterists did was add the title Caesar to Nero’s name and they translated the phrase Nero Caesar from Greek to Hebrew and came up with the number 666.
Hitchcock comes up with five reasons or arguments that “make the identification of Nero with the number of the beast in Revelation 13:16-18 doubtful (344).” The arguments consist of the following: First, for the number 666 to the gematria value of Nero, the name and title Nero Caesar must be used (344). Hitchcock points out that … while Nero’s name with his title can certainly be rendered in this way, this is a case of adapting the facts to fit a predetermined solution. So based on this knowledge Nero could be ruled out (344). Second, verse 16 says that the numerical value 666 is the name of the beast or the number of his name. It has to be pointed out that Nero Caesar is not Nero’s name. So based on what Revelation says Nero cannot be the beast in Revelation 13. Third, for the value to fit Nero Caesar as 666 the Greek must be transliterated to Hebrew. Hitchcock points out that “ Gentry attempts to answer this objection by noting that Revelation is one of the most Jewish books in the New Testament, that John often uses Hebraic terms such as Abbadon and Armageddon and that Asia was well populated by Jews (345).” Hitchcock, however, makes the point that the book of Revelation was written to the Greeks and therefore a Greek calculation of the number would be more precise. Fourth, the argument is made that even if the transliteration is correct then there is still another problem. Hitchcock elaborates further and says that “ the calculation in Hebrew equals 666 only if the Hebrew letter yod is omitted from the word Caesar (345).” Finally, “in order to arrive at the number 666” one of the letters would have to be retained(346).

The second argument is Nero and the 616 Variant. Some early date supporters according to Hitchcock, “seek to identify Nero as the beast of Revelation based on the occurrence of the number 616 in a few ancient manuscripts (346).” The Preterists claim that the variant was there in order for someone who was not Hebrew to be able to identify Nero as the beast in Revelation 13. Hitchcock points out that there is no way to be certain that a connection with Nero was the intention.

The third argument is the worship of the beast. In this argument Gentry, the one that Hitchcock is critiquing, argues that if Nero is the personal incarnation of the beast of Revelation, then Nero must have been worshiped (347).” This makes no sense, because there have been many emperors who have received worship. Hitchcock points out “no one can deny that Nero was worshiped during his reign. The issue is whether the worship of Nero fits the facts of the worship of the beast in Revelation (348).” What Revelation 13 is pointing out is that the beast will have universal success in attracting worshipers. With Nero, the worship was confined only to his area, which does not meet the requirements of Revelation’s beast.

The fourth argument is the death of the beast. According to Hitchcock, Gentry points out that a sword killed Nero. However, Hitchcock says “ Nero committed suicide by stabbing himself in the throat with the help of his secretary (349).” If the persecution of the beast is universal as Revelation suggests that it will be, then Nero cannot be the beast. According to Hitchcock, “it is generally agreed that the Neronic persecution never extended beyond the city of Rome and its immediate environs (349).”

Although there are only four arguments, Hitchcock gives another three additional reasons for rejecting the Nero view of Revelation 13. First, he says concerning Nero, 666, and the early church, that the early church fathers did not recognize Nero as the beast. Second, “there is no historical figure during Nero’s reign who corresponds to the second beast, the beast from the earth in verses 11-18 (353).” The second beast is the false prophet, and most people think he might be an apostate Jew (353).” Hitchcock says “the inability to identify a historical person who fulfilled the roles and activities of the false prophet in the Neronic era is a drawback for the preterist position and an early date for Revelation (354).” Third, it is pointed out that Nero cannot be the beast because he does not fulfill all the requirements to be the beast. For example, according to Revelation 13 the beast will rule for seven years. Nero ruled for fourteen years. This takes Nero out of the equation completely.

Critical Evaluation

This article written by Hitchcock has its strengths and its weaknesses. First of all, the author presents each argument in detail and talks about each point in depth. No one can read this article and not know what preterism is or who Nero is portrayed to be according to preterists. However, this article is filled with quote after quote. He puts down what everyone else says. There has to be some form of originality within a theological paper and this article fails that test. It is quite clear that Hitchcock is against preterists and holds to a futurist position. So in that way he does show bias. This article was a little more subjective than others that have been written in the field of eschatology. It was written in such a way that some people would have a hard time trying to understand what was communicated. This article is written to an audience who can understand Hebrew and Greek. If a person does not understand these very well then it is a little difficult to understand.

Conclusion

Not everyone can read this article. However, if one can read it and really pay attention then there are some things that can be learned in this article. If one wants to know about the preterist position then this is a good article. This article should be read because it does give information on the different viewpoints that people have concerning the identity of the beast. However, if one does not enjoy eschatology then this article should not be read because the average person could not understand its message.

Is the Anti-Christ in Daniel 11

2010-03-08T14:16:00.000-08:00

Steinman, E. Andrew, “IS THE ANTICHRIST IN DANIEL 11?,” Bibliotheca Sacra 162 (ApriK-June 2005), 195-209

Introduction

The article presented by Andrew Steinman, Associate Professor of Theology and Hebrew at Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois, poses a question and then through exegesis and solid hermeneutical interpretation does everything he can to put the audience at ease concerning the AntiChrist in Daniel 11. Within this article Steinman breaks apart Daniel 11 and through exegesis and studying Daniel 11 in detail he puts forth the idea that the last part of Daniel 11 is talking about the final leader on earth instead of Antiochus IV Epiphanes ( 175-164 B.C.). One of the things that Steinman does so well in his presentation is that he uses Scripture to verify the facts that he is presenting. In other words he just does not use one passage of scripture to make his argument. He uses a systematic approach in his argument that really adds to the overall quality of the document. People who really enjoy eschatology, should read this article because it will help someone get a better grasp of how Daniel 11 should be interpreted, but it also gives solid historical background, and opinions that were from some of history’s greatest theologians. In other words, it is not just his opinion: There are other people that agree with his opinion, such as Martin Luther, Chrysostom, Hippolytus, Theodoret and Jerome (196).

Summary

Steinman believes that the first part of Daniel 11, particularly Daniel 11:5-35 refers to the kings of the north and south (Seleucid and Ptolemaic). This section continues down to one particularly evil king of the north (Antiochus IV Epiphanes) (199). Antiochus IV Epiphanes was meant as a person who was a sneak preview to the Anti-Christ. He was a person that had many of the qualities that the Anti-Christ would have. Some of the things that Antiochus did was halt the daily sacrifices in the temple and defile the temple by raising up an idol and demanding that the Israelites must worship it. It is also known that Antiochus sacrificed a pig on the altar which is the most disrespectful thing an individual could do in front of a Jew. The point is that Epiphanes and the Anti-Christ are very much alike, but they are separate individuals.

In Daniel 9:27 it is evident that a re-enactment of that treacherous desecration will occur when the prince that shall come makes a treaty with Israel for seven years So, in knowing that Epiphanes resembled the Anti-Christ, who then is the eschatological king in Daniel 11:36-45? One view is that these verses continue to describe Epiphanes, even after a noticeable split after verse 35 in Daniel 11. This view is known as the critical view (197). Upon reading it is clear that Steinman does not agree with the critical view. A couple of the reasons include: 1.) It seems more likely that the author never intended 11:36-45 to be about Antiochus. When this is added to the fact that scholars who apply these verses to Antiochus admit that verses 40-45 do not fit what is known about Antiochus, it is very probable that it is the Antiochene theory, and not some distortion by the author of Daniel, that is the cause of these problems (202), 2.) According to Steinman, no historical facts suggest that Antiochus exalted and magnified “himself above every god” (v.36), or showed “no regard to the god of his fathers” (v.37), or “honored a god that his fathers did not know” (v.38).

The other view that must be discussed is the traditional view which has been upheld throughout history, and it has proven to be very solid hermeneutically speaking. The traditional view that Steinman talks about is a coming world ruler that has yet to appear on the scene. This ruler is none other than the Anti-Christ. Daniel 11:36-39 introduces him as a man whose arrogance is characterized as primarily religious in nature (204). The Anti-Christ will elevate himself over every other god and will speak evil against the one true God (205). He will prosper in everything he does for a short period of time, seven years to be exact.

Critical Evaluation

Steinman’s article is not designed to change someone’s opinion. Instead it inspires readers to be informed, independent, and intelligent thinkers. This article informs us that the Bible should be the guiding light in proper Biblical interpretation. His viewpoints are backed up by Scripture and also are withheld by great theologians such as Luther, and Jerome. The article also wants us to be independent in determining what the truth is. Even though the writer gives his viewpoint he does not let his convictions get in the way. Many books have been written on this topic and many viewpoints have been presented concerning this topic, but it is this writer’s opinion that Steinman’s article stands out because it presents facts and stays with the facts. There are some things that the author could have done better in this theological treatise. He could have developed his argument by including more on Paul, and what Paul said concerning the Anti-Christ. After all, it is important to examine all the evidence. He could have used the Book of Revelation to further illustrate that the Anti-Christ is mentioned in Daniel 11. Overall, this treatise will do more good in the realm of eschatology than it will bad. It will show that systematic research is always the best research.

Conclusion
This article did a good job of incorporating history. It was helpful to learn so much about Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the depiction of his reign. Daniel 11 proves itself as a commanding passage that must be dissected verse by verse in order to understand its meaning. The traditional viewpoint is the most plausible hermeneutically speaking. Steinman does a great job in communicating to the audience of what Daniel was trying to communicate to the people then and now. Daniel 11:36-45 deals with a future world ruler who will captivate the audiences of the world with his speech and candor. He will deceive the world for seven years and then God will destroy him and the Man of Lawlessness will be no more. This work will help in gathering more adequate information on a specific topic, the Anti-Christ, and whether he has already been on earth or whether he will be a coming world ruler.

The Coming Conqueror: The Anti-Christ

2010-03-06T07:24:00.000-08:00

Introduction

One of the ways that God chooses to reveal Himself is through prophecy. Some prophecies have been fulfilled and some prophecies have not. In this particular case, a prophecy that has not been fulfilled will be looked at in detail. The unfulfilled prophecy that this paper concerns itself with is the identity of the beast in Revelation 13:1-10. There are many points that will be addressed within this theological paper. They include the following: 1.) The Beast Revealed, 2.) The Components of the Beast, 3.) The Beast’s Wound, 4.) The Beast’s Agenda, 5.) The Mark of the Beast, 6.) The Beast’s Religion, and 7.) The Beast’s Destruction. All of these points and more will be discussed in detail, and different viewpoints will be examined until the best possible interpretation in light of biblical evidence is revealed.

The purpose of this paper is to educate people on the importance of the Beast. This writing is not designed to be polemical. This paper will look at each view objectively and determine the best objective interpretation. This paper is important to believers and non-believers. It is important to believers because it shows believers that now is the time to witness to the lost, because today is the day for salvation. It is just as important for lost people because if a person were to live during this period of time, then they would have a ravaging Beast with which to deal. If anything, this paper when all said and done, should be used as an evangelistic tool for the lost as well as a treatise that will bring enrichment to the believer’s life. This paper is important to eschatology, the doctrine of the last days, because what a person believes about the Beast, especially whether he is in the future or not, indicates what an individual believes about the entire book.
One delimitation of this study would be that when dealing with the Antichrist it would take an systematic theology to write everything there is to know about the Antichrist. Because of this, Revelation 13 was chosen because it deals only with certain aspects about the Beast as discussed in Revelation 13. It also has to be noted that the sources that are going to be used will consist of books, commentaries, and journal articles. It also has to be noted that this topic is beyond the scope of this paper. This paper will not discuss all the passages in the Bible concerning the Beast, only certain ones in Revelation, Daniel, Matthew, and in the books that Paul writes. With that being said, by no means is this treatise taken lightly, because this is a very deep topic. It is with hope that as this paper is read that the paper will be so enlightening that it will be as if the individual is actually there experiencing the horrors talked about.
This paper will be written from a pre-millennial viewpoint. The paper will account for the other views but in the end it will affirm the pre-millennial position. It is with anticipation and hope that as this paper is read, people will grow to enjoy and even love eschatology. It has to be said outright that this treatise is written from the view that everything mentioned is yet future.
This paper will show that there is a coming conqueror that will appear on the earth and deceive the masses into believing that He is God. He will be a man of intelligence, a man of oratorical skill, a man of war, and man who will at first bring peace to Israel. He will be resurrected satanically in the middle of the tribulation period and he will cause Hell to break loose on the earth. He is known in Revelation 13:1-10 by one title: He is the Beast.

The Beast Revealed

Since the beginning of time, there has been a war raging in the cosmos. It is a war that starts in heaven when Lucifer decides that he wants to be God. Lucifer was God’s most beautiful creation. He walked before the throne room daily and was considered an archangel. But Lucifer became jealous of God, and it was out of that jealously that Lucifer convinced one third of the angels to join his efforts to overthrow God and become God himself. It was at this point He ceased being an archangel and became the Prince of Darkness. The Devil’s revolt resulted in him being cast out of Heaven by God and ever since Satan and God have been enemies.
In our time we look forward to the day that evil will no longer hold sway in the world. We long for a heaven on earth. And one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth. But until that day comes when evil is finally no longer, evil still remains and causes much pain on the earth. John the Revelator knew of the evil on the earth and thought that it could not get any worse than it already was. But John quickly found out that is not the case. John found out that great tribulation is coming, the day of Jacob’s trouble. John saw the world being judged by God and the things he saw were horrific. He saw stars falling from the sky, water turning to blood, large chunks of hail falling to the earth. John saw many things but perhaps the most dreadful thing he sees is people selling their soul to the Devil and paying homage to a Beast, the Beast which rises out of the sea.

Is The Beast Revealed Before Or After the Rapture?

Revelation 13 introduces the reader to the beast. Arthur Bloomfield says that Revelation calls the Antichrist the beast out of the sea. Here is a symbol used for a name. The symbol is a beast that rises out of the sea, the sea being the symbol of the masses of the people. The question that must be asked concerns the revealing of the beast before or after the rapture. It is important not to leave out the doctrine of the rapture. The rapture has been one of the most debated topics in churches today. Why mention it when this paper discusses Revelation 13:1-10? What a person believes about the rapture has an impact on what they will believe concerning Revelation 13:1-10. There are those that believe that the beast is revealed before the rapture, and there are those that believe that the beast will be revealed after the rapture. There are two views that will be discussed concerning this issue and they are the following: Preterism and Futurism. These two views are completely opposite in nature. That is why they need to be looked at in detail.

Preterism

Preterism is a view that states that the book of Revelation for the most part happened in the past under the old Roman Empire nearly two thousand years ago. The preterist’ interpretation of the beast in Revelation is worthy of examination. Preterists believe that the beast … portrays the Roman Empire generally and Emperor Nero Caesar specifically. So the beast of Revelation 13 is not some future world dictator but he has already been. According to preterists he is none other than Nero, the emperor who led Rome from A.D. 54-68. and was responsible for murdering many Christians during his reign. The Nero Redivivus View is gaining steam among many preterists, The Roman Empire was the most dominant empire on earth at the time, and it is easy to see why those that hold to this method of interpretation interpret this passage of Scripture the way they do.
However, there are some inconsistencies that need to be looked at in detail concerning this view. The first inconsistency about believing that Nero is the beast of Revelation 13 is one of duration. Craig Keener says that none of this is to say that Revelation predicts a literal return of Nero from the dead- at least not before the resurrection of the damned. In Revelation 13:% it is made clear that the beast’s reign will only be approximately forty-two months. Now history tells us that Nero reigned for approximately fourteen years. One cannot overlook this fact. Secondly, Revelation 13:4 says that they worshipped the beast and everyone worshiped him with awe. The reason why this has to be mentioned is that the beast of Revelation will rule the entire world and it is only logical to conclude that the worship the beast will receive will be worldwide. Even though Nero does receive worship from Rome, he did not receive it on a worldwide scale like the beast will. These inconsistencies are hard to overlook because Scripture makes it clear that Nero does not meet the requirements according to the Word of God.

Futurism

The second view that needs to be discussed is the futurist view. This view is also known as classical dispensationalism. Marvin Pate in the book Four Views on the Book of Revelation says that classical dispensationalism believe the teaching about a two-fold return of Christ which accounts for Revelation 1:1-3. Thus the Rapture can occur at any moment, which will then set in motion the prophecies of the Apocalypse and the revealing of the beast. Those that hold to this view believe that after John talks about the seven churches everything following is future and has not happened yet. Thus Revelation 13 would have to be future making the beast also future. This view is the most consistent among evangelicals today. The futurists believe that the beast will be revealed after the rapture and they get this view from different places in Scripture.

The primary place where futurists go for support of their view is found in Daniel 9 and it is in this chapter that it refers to the prophecy of the seventieth week. In order to understand why this is so important and why this has relevance one must look at this prophesy in detail. One very important piece of information that should be discussed while interpreting the full scale of this prophecy is the doctrine of the rapture and how it relates to Daniel’s seventy weeks. What people believe about the rapture impacts what people believe about the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy. Sir Robert Anderson points out that History contains no records of events to satisfy the predicted course of the seventieth week. Most post-tribulationists believe that the seventieth week has already been fulfilled. One question to this interpretation is how can they explain that the tribulation will be started with a seven year peace treaty between the Antichrist and Israel. If the seventieth week has already been fulfilled then where is there in history documented proof of a peace treaty that was signed between the beast and Israel for seven years? This is not possible because Christ would have already come back and this world would be over if the Posttribulationist’s interpretation of the seventieth week is true. One simply cannot ignore that these events are yet future. Even Christ said in His famous Olivet Discourse that there would be wars and rumors of wars. These things can be seen before our very eyes.

Is The Beast An Individual Or is the Beast A World System?

Within the eschatological ranks, there is a question that is permeating among theologians. It is the question, is the beast an individual or is the beast referring to a world system? Revelation 13:1 starts out by saying, And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. There are those out there that believe that Antichrist is an individual. Many attempts have been made to identify who the Antichrist is. Some say he is Nero, some say he is the pope, and others even say that he is Judas Iscariot reincarnated. The point is that many of history’s theologians such as Tertullian, Hippolytus, Irenaeus, and Jerome believed in a personal Antichrist that would wreak havoc on earth at some point of time. Whether he has already existed or is a future world ruler does not take away from the fact that in each case he is looked upon as an individual. There are at least two reasons why people look at the beast as an individual and the reasons are scriptural.

First, the apostle Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians writes in 2 Thessalonians 2 that Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Paul clearly refers to his beast as the man of sin, the son of perdition. He also states that this individual will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped. If he was just an entity or a force then why would Paul refer to him as a man?
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Second, it has to be pointed out that what John says in Revelation 13:6 and what Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2 correlate. In Revelation 13:6, it is evident that this beast is opening his mouth and blaspheming God. The same is going on in 2 Thessalonians 2. So by making this correlation it is evident that the man of sin and the beast are the same individual.

There are also those who believe that the concept of the beast is just a world view, or a way of thinking that is contrary to the things of God. The apostle Paul clearly said that in the last days there would be a great falling away from the truth. According to Samuel J. Andrews, to apostatize means to fall away from the faith. Andrews points out that in this case, apostasy means falling away from the true standing of the Church as appointed by God and in its culmination, as represented in the man of sin and in his adherents, it is undoubtedly a total denial of the Christian faith. He denies both the Father and the Son.
The apostle distinguishes two forms of the apostasy, one being the corruption of Christianity, the other its absolute rejection. With the rise of all the worldly philosophies that permeate the earth, it is easy to see the spirit of Antichrist at work. Anyone that denies Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is Antichrist, and it will be this attitude that coerces people to worship the beast. So with the philosophies of the world, and the church falling away, beginning with the loss of love, it is not to be confined only with doctrine, it embraces the whole spiritual life; and therefore the whole external order of the Church. There cannot be a loss of or a falling away without a corresponding decay in the entire ecclesiastical constitution, its ministries, its sacraments, its activities, and also, in practical godliness. This apostasy which according to Andrews is already happening will lead to the beast receiving worship in Revelation 13. This apostasy can be traced back all the way to the book of Genesis where Satan told Eve that when she ate the fruit her eyes would be opened and she would be like a god, knowing good and evil. Man from this point on has desired to be like God, and one day there will be a literal beast who will declare that he is god and demand worship.

The Components of the Beast

Within this section several questions will be looked at in detail. The first question that will be looked at is what are the seven heads and the ten horns? The second question that will be looked at is what does Daniel seven have to do with Revelation thirteen concerning the appearance of the beast?

The Seven Heads and the Ten Horns

Revelation 13:1 says that the beast has seven heads and ten horns. What does it mean? Well, in Revelation 17:9 it says that the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sittteth. The city of Rome was known in ancient times as being the city that sits on seven hills or mountains. However, the Rome that historians are talking about no longer exists. It was wiped off the map. Could knowing this provide problems with this view? No because, scripture says that in the last days a world empire will arise and rule the world. So if that is the case then it is not preposterous to believe that the Roman Empire will rise again from the ashes to rule the world again in complete dominance.

Daniel Two And Daniel Seven’s Relation To Revelation Thirteen’s Message Concerning The Appearance of the Beast

The literal interpreters believe that the head of gold that Daniel saw in Daniel 2 symbolizes the Babylonian Empire. The breast and arms of silver Daniel saw symbolize the Medes and Persians. The thighs made of brass symbolize the Greeks, and the legs of iron and feet and toes of iron and part of pottery symbolizes a future empire. The name of the final empire Daniel does not give. However, there has been much speculation as to what this empire is. Most literal interpreters such as John Walvood believe that the Roman Empire is the future empire that is symbolized.
The non-literal interpreters agree that the first four empires are Babylon, the Medes and Persians, and even believe that the fourth is Rome. Where they differ is concerning the interpretation of the stone. The non-literal interpreters such as the amillenialists and the postmillennialists interpret the stone as meaning the Lord Jesus Christ. They say that the meaning of the stone is evident when Jesus came to earth the first time and introduced the gospel, assuring the ultimate victory of the saints over the evil powers of Gentile political rule. However, the premillenialists say that this interpretation is not correct. The literal interpretation is that this vision stretches forward in time to the second coming of Jesus Christ. They believe that the image that Daniel saw has for the most part been fulfilled. However, the feet stage, including the implied ten toes, is yet future and is related to a period just before the second coming of Christ. The point is that the Roman Empire in some form or fashion will be revived and therefore the ten toes representing a ten-nation confederacy are yet to be fulfilled.

Secondly, the vision of Daniel 7:7-8 is depicted and shows that this chapter does correspond with Daniel 2. The difference is that in Daniel 7 he sees four beasts. These four beasts represent the same empires as in Daniel 2. The lion represents Babylon, the bear represents the Medes and the Persians, the leopard with four wings on the back on four heads represents the Greeks, and the beast with ten horns represents the revived Roman Empire. Walvood points out that this vision is more detailed than the one of Daniel 2. Daniel 7 tells the reader that the four beasts are four kings or kingdoms. Daniel 2 does not go into detail, however on the fourth empire. Daniel 7 does. It tells us that a little horn will arise and will uproot three of the kings or horns. There is a question that one can postulate. Has the little horn appeared? Walvood sums it up by saying that any reasonable literal interpretation of this prophesy requires the expositor to take the position that this is yet future from the standpoint of the twentieth century. If this vision is to be viewed as prophetic then people have to ask themselves, has the ten-nation confederacy ever been on earth? The answer is no. So then it requires a future ten-nation confederacy as a key to the political and international situation in the days just preceding the second coming of Christ and his kingdom.

Finally, two more important passages must be looked at in detail, and they are Revelation 13:1-3 and Revelation 17:3,7, 12-18. Revelation 13:1-3 describes a beast rising out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns. The description of the beast is very similar to the one prophesied hundreds of years before by Daniel. The beast John saw was like a leopard, and the feet were the feet of a bear, and his mouth the mouth of a lion. The fact that it mirrors the beast in Daniel 7 confirms that it is the same beast, and the ten horns and ten crowns suggest ten kings who rule ten kingdoms. What is different from Daniel’s prophesy is John’s mentioning of the seven heads. One possible interpretation that Walvood points out is that the seven heads represent seven successive rulers in the Roman Empire which are succeeded by a ten-nation confederacy which has ten simultaneous kings.

Revelation 13 makes it clear that this prophesy is yet future. The beast is given power to rule for forty-two months. The forty-two months describes the future great tribulation, and appears to be the last three half years of the tribulation. Revelation 17 says the same thing as Revelation 13, only this time it adds a wicked woman to the equation. The visions that each prophet had were alike and that is amazing. The ten-nation confederacy will come in the last days. It is not to be taken allegorically, but it is to be taken literally. All of the evidence that the Bible gives indicate a coming world ruler, the little horn, who will rule the world with the help of these ten kings.

The Beast’s Wound

In Revelation 13:3, the verse tells the reader that one of the heads was wounded unto death, and then this wound was miraculously healed. Within this section, questions will be answered concerning this issue. The first question that will be answered is will the beast be resurrected from the dead? Finally the last question that will be answered is how will the world react to this resurrection? All of these questions are important and if the best possible interpretation is to be expounded then these questions need to be looked upon with detail in order to understand this issue.

Will The Beast Be Resurrected From The Dead?

There are several viewpoints that must be looked at concerning this issue. First there is the reincarnation view which postulates the wound of the beast refers to the reincarnation of some individual such as Judas Iscariot.

First there is the reincarnation view which postulates that wound of the beast refers to the reincarnation of some individual such as Judas Iscariot. There are several reasons why some people think that when the wound is miraculously healed that the spirit of Judas Iscariot will enter into the body of the beast, and thus the beast will be Judas reincarnated. The reason people ascribe to this view can be found in the book of Acts. In Acts 1:25 it says that Judas went to his own place. It is not clear what that means. Die he die and go to Heaven or did he die and go to Hell? A.W. Pink argues for Judas Iscariot when he says that the Antichrist is Judas Iscariot reincarnated. However, it can be said that this view can not be scriptural because the Bible says that when a person dies, then the only thing that is left is judgment. Second there is the Revived Roman Empire View. This view means that the great Roman Empire which fell would be revived in the end of days. Thus the wound of death that will be healed refers to the revived Roman Empire, and not the beast. Third, there is the Antichrist View. This view states that an individual yet to appear on the world scene will arise and receive the wound. Then after he receives the wound he will die and then be resurrected from the dead. After all, Satan is the imitator of Jesus Christ. However, it is not clear whether Satan will have the power to resurrect him from the dead unless God gives him the power.

The wound of the beast in the Tribulation, when it is truly dissected should never lean toward an allegorical interpretation. Instead, it should be taken as literal, and in the context of Revelation 13, it refers to an individual man, ( the beast out of the sea), who will receive a wound and will miraculously be resurrected. The only other plausible view is the Revived Roman Empire View, but again context is very important in Revelation 13 and will all the facts out there, it is with the utmost certainty that an individual man that has not been revealed on earth is the one who receives the wound and not the Revived Roman Empire.

How Will The World React To The Resurrection Of The Beast?

Before, it was mentioned that the doctrine of the rapture is important. Based on biblical study there is enough evidence to suggest that the Church, the collective body of Christians as a whole will be snatched away before the tribulation and before the beast is revealed. This view is known as the pre-tribulation view. In other words, all the Christians will be in Heaven with Jesus before the beast takes center stage. There are other views out there.

There is the Mid-Tribulation View which states that Christians will be caught up into heaven in the middle of the tribulation period, just before the worst part of the tribulation starts, the last three and a half years of the tribulation. There is also the Post-Tribulation View which postulates that the Christians will have to go through the tribulation and thus experience all the horrors that everybody else will have to experience during the tribulation, including the reign of the beast. J. Dwight Pentecost thinks that the reason why the pre-tribulation rapture theory stands out is because of the role of the restrainer, the Holy Spirit. Pentecost says that explanations as to the person of this restrainer such as human government, law, the visible church will not suffice, for they will all continue in a measure after the manifestation of this lawless one. He goes on to say that as long as the Holy Spirit is resident within the church, which is His temple, this restraining work will continue and the man of sin cannot be revealed. Thus, this ministry of the restrainer which will continue as long as His temple is on earth and which must cease before the lawless one can be revealed, requires the pre-tribulation rapture of the church, for Daniel 9:27 reveals that the lawless one will be manifested at the beginning of the week, or the tribulation. Why is all of that important? It is important because Christians will not be present on earth during the reign of the beast. That is why the whole world will be in awe of the beast when he resurrects from the dead. Those that are left behind will be those that do not believe in Jesus and will be blinded from the truth. They will think that the Antichrist is the long awaited Messiah and they will worship him. If Christians were left on the earth then they would be able to discern then that the Antichrist was not the Messiah. Even the Jews for a period of time will think that he is their Messiah until he desecrates the temple and declares that he is God.

There are two reasons why people will worship him. First, they will worship because of all the miracles he will do, and then they will worship him out of fear for their lives. If one does not worship him then a certain death is awaiting them. There will be people saved, but there will be many more during the tribulation period that will not get saved because the beast will be the master of deception. People are being deceived today by various cults, but compared to what will happen in the tribulation when the beast rules the world it will fail in comparison.

The Beast’s Agenda

Now, we are on to a very important part about the beast, and it is the beast’s agenda. What will his agenda be during the tribulation period, which is forty two months. Approximately seven years? What are his characteristics? Will he be a military genius? Will be he a peacemaker? Will he be a Jew? Will he be a religious person? These are all questions that need to be answered, and it is with hope that they will be answered according to what Scripture says.

The Characteristics Of The Beast

According to Revelation 13:6-8 it says, And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

The one thing that should be noticed is that the beast is in direct defiance against God and against the Lamb, Jesus Christ. In fact, the beast and Jesus Christ contrast in their nature. Here are some ways in which they contrast. Christ came from above (John 6:38), whereas the beast will ascend from the pit (Rev. 11:7), Christ came in His father’s name, and the Antichrist will come in his own name, Christ humbled Himself, the Antichrist will exalt himself, Christ was despised, the Antichrist will be admired, Christ will be exalted, the Antichrist will be cast down to hell, Christ came to do His Father’s will, the Antichrist came to do his own will, Christ came to save, Antichrist will come to destroy, Christ is the Good Shepherd, the Antichrist is the idol shepherd, Christ is the true vine, the Antichrist is the vine of the earth, Christ is the truth (John 14:6), the Antichrist is the Lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11), Christ is the Holy One, The Antichrist is the lawless one (2 Thessalonians 2:8), Christ is the man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3), the Antichrist is the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3) , Christ is the Son of God (Luke 1:35), the Antichrist is the son of perdition, Christ is the mystery of godliness, God’s manifestation in the flesh, the Antichrist will be the mystery of iniquity, Satan manifested in the flesh (2 Thessalonians 2:7). One can clearly see that the Bible makes it clear that the beast and the Lord are two different people. They are opposite and contrast in everything they do.

The Military Genius

Revelation 13:7 states that the beast will be given power to make war against the saints and he will be given charge over the whole world. How will he be able to do this? The answer is that he will be a conqueror. He will literally conquer the world and establish a one-world government. He will have help in establishing this one-world government. He will have help from ten king who are the ten horns that are spoken of in Revelation 13:2. These ten kings will help the beast achieve world domination. These kings will not rise up against the beast. Instead, they will pay homage to him and worship him like the rest of the world.

The Peacemaker

Everyone in the world wants peace. Politicians have been trying to make peace for years. There will be a man that will rise on the scene (the beast) who will convince the leaders of the world that world peace can happen. The beast will make a covenant with Israel for seven years and within that covenant the beast will promise Israel peace, but it is a false peace. After the first three and a half years of the tribulation the beast will break that peace treaty with Israel and will enter into Jerusalem and proclaim to the world that he is god. When he does this then Israelites will see his true colors and will flee to the mountains, possibly to Petra. So in reality, although he promises peace, true peace never happens in the world.

The Jew

Why will the Jewish people at first believe that the Antichrist is their long awaited Messiah? The reason is because he regards not the God of his fathers. This is found in Daniel 11:36-37. The beast will not regard Jehovah as his father. The only god he has is power. He is not a religious person. He desires worship for himself. So in this way he is a humanist. He believes that he is god. Humanists believe that man can control his own fate. Ed Hindson says that the New Age philosophy has an paradigm. Its logical paradigm is, All is god, God is all, man is part of all, therefore man is god. The Romans borrowed this philosophy from the Greeks. Caesar was worshipped as God. In the twentieth century after Darwin’s theory of evolution, humanism had all it needed. The beast will reinstate emperor worship and he will receive worship. The beast is a humanist. Of course the Father of Lies, Satan himself is behind this. When the beast resurrects from the dead he will get the worship he desires, and the Jews will believe that he is the Messiah because the Old Testament tells the Israelites that the Messiah will rise from the dead and that he would rule the world. For three and a half years the beast will be the Jews political Messiah because he will bring peace to the land and all will seem to be going well. They will be duped by the master of deception himself, Satan.

The Beast’s Destruction

Within this section it will briefly be discussed how the beast will be destroyed and what is the beast’s final destination? When it comes to how the beast will be destroyed, the beast will gather his armies, all the armies of the world, and they will meet at a place called Armageddon, which is in the valley of Megiddo. There the final battle will be fought, and it will be between the armies of Christ and the armies of the world. Revelation 19:11-20 best illustrates this battle: And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 17And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 19And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. 20And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Conclusion

This paper has shown many different viewpoints. This paper has shown that the Antichrist is an individual who is the head of the revived Roman Empire. This paper has shown that the beast will be given a wound and he will resurrect from the dead. It has also shown that his agenda is that of complete world domination, and to establish a false peace with Israel. The beast has not appeared on the earth yet. He is waiting for the Lord to rapture the Church before he comes on the scene. He will be the embodiment of evil let by Satan himself. He is the beast. This paper was written to Christians because it will show them that there is a time coming on earth that is much worse than it is now. It reminds Christians that they should witness to a lost and dying world. This was written to lost people, people who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior. It is with hope and anticipation that many people will be saved before it is too late. If people are saved then they will be in heaven during this time, and if not then they will have to experience a ravaging beast and worst of all they will have to face the Great Tribulation.

SATAN’S THE NAME, RELIGION’S THE GAME

2010-03-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

Recorded in Isaiah 14:14 is Lucifer’s statement, I will be like the Most High.” Lucifer decided to act and live independently of God! He has deceived the inhabited world of men into believing, they too, can live independently of their Creator. This deception is seen over and over again in Scripture: “ In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe no, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). In the latter days this deception will continue: But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

During the Tribulation the Bible tells us of the devil’s deception through the Anti-christ. During the Millennium his deception is stopped for a thousand years. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”

After the Millennium Satan will be turned loose. “ And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. (This doesn’t sound like he’s going to enjoy his stay in the pit!) and shall go out to the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together in battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. His deception will come to an end at the hand of an Holy God. “ And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Having observed the above verses we have no trouble agreeing that Satan’s plan is to deceive—and his plan is working quite well. Much that appears good is used by him. He uses education. It has been aptly stated that, Education without salvation is damnation.” God has been kicked out; The Bible has been banned from the public education classrooms. The public educational system in America has Biblical illiterates and moral degenerates. You say, “Preacher, I don’t like that!” Well, I do not care what you like or do not like. The truth of the matter is that we have raised up a generation that knows not God.”

A lot of what we see in the educational system is a direct result of the lack of God- centeredness in the home. But that should be no surprise. Satan uses the family. He takes that which God started and spoils it. He uses any family that does not have God’s direction in it. That’s why it is so important that dad’s provide godly leadership in the home. Satan uses many other things. He uses art. He uses commercialism and materialism. Have you noticed how the stores have Christmas junk on the shelves now in October? They, at least, used to wait until after the Thanksgiving holidays to hit us with it.

Morals are used by Satan. He doesn’t mind how moral you are, so long as you don’t see your need of Jesus Christ as Savior, so long as you think you’re good enough without God. Satan uses money to deceive many. Money is used by him to keep many from coming to Christ. Money is also used by him to keep many from serving Christ. I see it often. The dad that has no time for his family or the Lord because he wants to work that overtime and get that big money. The business man who can’t serve God because his business is being blessed so much. He just has to get one more super contract.
I think it is quite clear to any thinking person that Satan has a lot of folks deceived—and part of that deception is that they don’t see anything amiss with what they are doing! Another aspect of Satan’s plan to deceive is that part-truth-ism comes from Satan. With this scheme Satan uses just enough truth to get people pulled into what appears to be okay. Music is one of the prime areas for this in the Church and in the lives of Christians today. He has sold the Christian community a bill of goods by slipping in good lyrics with lousy rhythm. A Biblical principle to use for a guideline is found in Acts 16:16-18. “ And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried saying, these men are servants of the Most High God, which shew us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.”

The message was right. The medium was wrong. Still we have a vast number of church members who see nothing wrong with allowing themselves to fly high on so-called contemporary Christian rock. In my opinion this is a big mistake! To say Christian rock is like saying Jewish Ham.” There isn’t any such animal! Humanitarianism is another area in which we have been hit with the part-truth-ism. Is it right to feed the hungry? Of course it is! But we will never be able to feed and clothe the whole world. Jesus said, the poor ye have with you always.

After taking a good look at the matters we have already discussed, I think we would be pressed to agree that Satan is doing a good job of using these things to deceive the world of mankind. We need to note, however, that Satan’s plan to deceive works best when he applies it to religion. Note carefully 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Verse five says having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. In the last days forms of godliness (things that look and sound good) will appear which deny the power of God.

My Philosophy of Pastoral Leadership

2010-03-06T02:00:00.000-08:00

Introduction

Great leaders have shaped the foundation of this country. They have forged their legacy in history books and will forever be remembered. Leaders do not become leaders right away. The experiences that a person has in life dictate whether or not the individual will become an effective leader. Do leaders have to be like George Washington who shaped the lives of Americans for years to come by just simply determining in his heart that he would not quit no matter what it might cost him? Do leaders have to be like Billy Graham, who has probably been the most effective soul winner of the twentieth century? Is there a set way to define what leadership is? Within this essay, several components will be looked at that describe leadership. First, the question of what leadership is will be looked at. Second, the Bible will be looked at for a definition of leadership. Third, the character of Joseph will be looked at in detail because his character is of significant importance in determining how to be an effective leader. Fourth, my personal leadership style will be discussed. Fifth, how I plan to implement leadership in my ministry will be discussed. Finally, I will discuss on how my leadership style will advance the ministry and in the long run affect others.

What Leadership is?

John Maxwell says in his book Developing the Leader Within You that “after more than five decades of observing leadership with his family and many years of developing his own leadership, that he has come to this conclusion: Leadership is influence.” While this statement by Maxwell is true, there are still other elements that describe what leadership is. Bruce P. Powers, in his book the Church Administration Handbook, says that “transformational leadership appears to be the necessary ingredient to help congregations renew their visions and commitments to be the people of God and the body of Christ in a new world.” Powers goes on to say that
“our biblical principles do not change, for they are eternal. But the methods we use to share the gospel and cast a kingdom vision for a technologically oriented society do change. So ministers and other church leaders have to make a choice: do we resist the future and try to maintain the status quo, or do we seek to be life-changing leaders, assisting congregations and individual believers to be all they can be, in the likeness of the Lord?”

Powers has a point when he says that biblical principles do not change, but the methods we use to share the gospel do change in a world driven by technology. Powers makes the point that leaders should be life-changing, and should assist congregations and believers to be all they can be. Simply put, spiritual leadership is “moving people on to God’s agenda.” In other words, leadership is about getting people see that success in life is not built primarily by what self does, but success is built upon what God does.

Biblical Rationale for Definition of Leadership

How does the Bible fit into leadership? What principles can be learned from the Word of God in order to give a proper rationale for the definition of leadership? Moving people on to God’s agenda involves two principles that if taken seriously can make a believer successful and if not followed can be a leaders, or in this case a pastor’s downfall.
First, the spiritual leader must never usurp the authority of God over the soul. Whether a preacher boldly proclaims the Word of God or not is not a question of authority. Who has the right to lead the church? The leader or God? Whenever anything is substituted for the preaching of God’s Word, God’s Word and His authority has been usurped. When a leader does this then pride becomes a issue. Solomon writes in the book of Proverbs on the sin of pride. Proverbs 16:5 says “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” Proverbs 16:18-19 says “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Solomon says that God hates pride. It is an abomination to God and God says that it will go before destruction. In other words, the leader who lets pride get the best of him will eventually fall.
Secondly, the spiritual leader or the pastor must effectively communicate when it comes to the Word of God. Communication is one of the aspects that people look for in a leader. Whether a pastor is preaching a message or counseling an individual, communication is and always will be important. Kouzes and Posner in the book Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it says that “leaders understand that unless they communicate and share information with their constituents, few will take much interest in what is going on.” Moses had a problem with thinking that he could not communicate the message that God wanted him to take to Pharaoh. He was scared that people would not receive his message.
Biblical Character for Leadership Style to Emulate
While there are many leaders in the Bible that stand out, there is one particular leader in the Bible that stands out above the rest and that individual is Joseph. Joseph was a man who had every reason to give up on life and quit, but he trusted in the Lord and the Lord was with Joseph, and Joseph became a successful leader in life. According to the Good Book on Leadership, Joseph is described “as one who developed his leadership credibility in the worst of conditions by making good decisions. The skills he developed in less-than favorable conditions qualified him for the significant leadership responsibilities entrusted to him later.” Joseph was a man of integrity and forgiveness.
Joseph his entire life went through a hard time. According to Charles Swindoll, “the home in which Joseph was raised was comprised of a family filled with angry, jealous and deceitful people. Then within that hostile environment, for seventeen years, the other sons of Jacob had watched as their father played favorites with Joseph. Their jealousy had turned into resentment and hatred.” He was hated by his brothers because he was favored by his father Jacob. In fact, his brothers despised him so much that at first they wanted to kill him. Instead they decided to sell him into slavery and Joseph finds himself in an unfamiliar land, Egypt. Joseph is sold to a man by the name of Potiphar, who was an leading officer in Pharaoh’s army. Joseph gained favor under Potiphar and earned his respect.
Joseph was also a very good looking man who sparked the interest of Potiphar’s wife. She tried to seduce Joseph, but Joseph was a man of integrity and purity and turned her down. Joseph turned her down more than one time, and Potiphar’s wife got mad. She lied on Joseph and told Potiphar that Joseph tried to rape her. He was thrown in prison.
Joseph was a man of integrity because Joseph could have turned his back on God and gave up on life. After, all every conceivable thing that could have gone bad did go bad. But Joseph did not turn his back on God. He determined within his heart that he was not going to quit. He trusted that God had a plan for his life, and that God would make the best out of his life despite of the bleak circumstances that Joseph was currently facing. God honored Joseph’s integrity by eventually making him second in command over all of Egypt. Leaders are defined in most cases by the character that they possess. According to Peter Northhouse, “Integrity undergirds all aspects of leadership. It is at the core of being a leader. Integrity is a central aspect of a leader’s ability to influence. If people do not trust a leader, the leader’s influence potential is weakened. In essence, integrity is the bedrock of who a leader is. When a leader’s integrity comes into question, his or her potential to lead is lost.”
Joseph, also, was a man of forgiveness. Joseph probably had every reason not to forgive those who had caused him harm, but he forgave them anyway, not because they deserved forgiveness, but because it was his duty. Leaders have to learn to forgive. People are going to say horrible things, and as a leader, we too have to learn forgive people like Joseph forgave his brothers.

My Personal Leadership Style

Before I began to study leadership, I really did not have a grasp of what style of leadership I had. I knew I had leadership ability, but I did not have a grasp on what type of temperament style I had. The more and more I have studied, the more apparent to me that I do not just have one particular style of leadership. I have many styles for many different situations. According to Peter Northhouse, in his book Introduction to Leadership, says that “styles are not distinct entities. They overlap each other. That is, a leader can demonstrate more than one style in any given situation. For example, a leader may be authoritarian about some issues and democratic about others. As leaders, we may display aspects of all of these styles.”
If I had to put one above the others it would probably be the democratic style of leadership. The reason why this is the case is because people deserve to have the opportunity to get the job done on their own. They do not need someone yelling at them because the way that they do things might be a little different than the way the boss does them. I do not want to be some autocratic dictator where it is my way or the highway. That type of philosophy does more harm than it does good. I want to involve people in my decision making. I want to be known as a good decision maker with the help of godly people around me.
When it is all said and done, I want to be known as a visionary leader. George Barna in his book The Power of Vision: Discover and Apply God’s Plan for Your Life and Ministry says that “vision for ministry is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to His chosen servants and is based on understanding of God, self and circumstances.”

How I Plan to Implement Leadership in the Ministry

In ministry, it is important for the minister to practice what he preaches. In other words, pastors need to be individuals above reproach. Does that mean that a pastor will never sin? No, but it means that a pastor is highly respected in the community and needs to be on guard from the landmines that will try to annihilate the pastor’s walk with God and his career. I do not want to be known as someone who is just a pastor who dictates orders and expects everything little thing to be done my way. Instead, I want to look at the people as part of a partnership. Paul was the type of leader in the Bible that commended people for service. I want to encourage my staff to be the best they can be.
Independent thinking is one of the things that should be encouraged as a pastor. The pastor is not always right about everything. Someone might know how to do things better, and that person’s ideas might be what is needed for the best possible solution for whatever the problem might be. Problems are going to emerge in ministry. How a leader solves those problems has a big say in how effective that leader will be in the long run. I want my staff to be able to come to me with a problem, and then as a team solve the problem together. Bob Biehl said in his book Masterplanning Your Business, Church or Organization that “ problem solvers frequently feel like second-class citizens in the shadow of goal setters and the goal-setting orientation that has become standard in corporate culture and even in many national cultures.”

How my leadership style will advance the ministry

John Piper wrote the book Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry. Within this book he tells pastors that they are not professionals. In other words, he is saying do not be like a corporate executive officer who runs a huge corporation. According to Piper, “a ministry under the banner of Christ’s supremacy will be offensive to the impulses of professional clergy who like to be quoted respectably by the local newspaper.” Piper goes on to say that the “book is meant to sound an alarm against the pride of station and against the expectation of parity in pay and against the borrowing of professional paradigms from the professional world. Oh for radically Bible saturated, God-centered, Christ-exalting, self-sacrificing, mission-mobilizing, soul-saving, culture-confronting pastors.”
The description that Piper makes is exactly how I want to be as a pastor and a leader. I want to be Bible saturated. I want people to know that when I preach, I am not doing it just to massage their ego. I am preaching not to make people feel good, but I am preaching on behalf of God and His Almighty Word. God’s Word must take precedent. The service must be saturated in God’s holy Word, or else it will become stagnant.
As a minister I should also strive to be God-centered. The whole purpose of living out the Christian life is being conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ. That means that every day, the spiritual leader must totally surrender everything to God, and let God lead his life. I want people to know that I love Jesus and my life is completely centered on Him. I want Jesus to be my shepherd and guide me to green pastures where I can find security in his arms. I want to be Christ-exalting. In every message I want to glorify His holy name. In every situation, I want to do what Jesus would have done. He is the author and finisher of my faith, and his name should be exalted above all else.
I want to be self-sacrificing. I want to place others before me. I want to be the person “who never places themselves above others except in carrying out responsibilities.” I want to serve other people. I want to be a man of humility. The one who taught people all about servant leadership was Jesus Christ. He is known throughout the Book of Isaiah as the Suffering Servant. So, I want to be more like Christ as a leader, and in order to do that I must humble myself and serve others.
I also want the ministry to be known for missions. Missions should be the focus of the church. It should be one of the primary purposes of the Church. God wants all people to be saved. He wants His Church to go to the uttermost parts of the earth proclaiming the gospel. So I must proclaim that to His people and tell them that witnessing to people should be the primary objective of all Christians.
I want to be known as a soul-saver. I want to lead people to Jesus Christ. As a leader, the gospel to some is offensive. However, it is necessary in order for a person to get saved and avoid the torments of hell. Hell is a reality and every day people are pummeling into the pits of hell at an alarming rate. There are people all over the world that do not know Jesus, and it is my job as a pastor to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven, and any other way will not suffice.
Finally, I want to be a culture-confronter. I do not want to the status-quo type of leader or minister. When the world is rapidly declining morally, there needs to be someone that will stand against the ills of society and say something about it. It’s time to take action. I want to be a precipitator of change in this country. I want to see this country find God again. In order to do that, the people in my congregation need to know where I stand on issues such as homosexuality, abortion, and other immoral activities.
If I do all of these things then God will bless me and my ministry will flourish. If not, then I will not be of any use to God or His Kingdom. Living for God and being a leader in life can be hard at times, but the challenges are well worth it when transformational change occurs.

Conclusion

Leadership is an enormous responsibility. There are countless numbers of examples of people who have become great leaders. The Bible is the place to go when leadership needs to be dissected. Stories like Joseph captivate the heart and encourage leaders when life seems gloomy. Leadership is about change as was mentioned before. Without change, and without the ability to influence people and without any vision in life, then the leader will be ineffective. True spiritual leaders are sold out for Jesus and do not worry about what society might think of them, because in the end, when it comes to leadership, the only thing that really matters is what God thinks.

Heaven: What A Day That Will Be!

2010-03-05T22:19:00.000-08:00

When I think about Heaven, a chorus to a famous hymn always comes to my mind. What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see, when I look upon His face, the one who saved me by His grace, when He takes me by the hand and leads me to the Promised Land, What a day, glorious day that will be! Heaven will be Heaven because Jesus will be there. That is such an incredible thought. Perhaps nothing describes Heaven better than Revelation 21:3-4:And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Heaven will be Heaven because God will be there and He will dwell in complete unity and perfect harmony with mankind. I will see God face to face! That fact alone makes me want to have a spell! On this earth today we experience heartaches, we experience sorrow, we experiences pain, we experience sickness and ultimately if the Lord tarries His return we will face death. The fact is for believers who know Christ this life is the worst life now. This is the worst that believers will have it while on earth. On the other hand, for lost people, this is the best life now, because the next life will be an eternity of pain unlike anyone can ever imagine. For believers, the next life will be wonderful. God shall wipe away every tear from our eyes. Every hurt, every person who has stabbed you in your back that you thought was your friend, all of those tears shed will be wiped away. My friend, be encouraged that every battle and every trial that you are going through will be well worth it when we see the Lord. There will be no more death and no more pain! Heaven: What a day that will be!

Do Not Depend On Your Resume

2010-03-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

Philippians 3:2-9
2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: 5. Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith

Philippians 3:2-9 tells us of the Apostle Paul, and the Apostle Paul tells us that if anyone had reason to boast in their accomplishments or their resume, it was him. After all, as verse five indicates, he says that he was an Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was born out of great stock. He states in verse six, that as far as the law was concerned he followed the law. In fact, Paul learned under the great teacher Gamaliel. Paul was extremely educated. Paul had a PHD. He was a scholar of the law. He had a resume that would put all of us to shame. Before he was born again, he relied upon his resume. He says in verse four that he once had great confidence in his flesh and his resume. He basically says that if anyone should boast in the flesh, it should be him. He goes on to say in verse five that he was a Pharisee. Pharisees were known in Paul's day for being wealthy and for being the most educated concerning the law. But, the Pharisees did not know Jesus Christ. All of their qualifications meant nothing, because they did not know Jesus Christ. Paul could have very easily went on to be the leader of the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body of Paul's day.... See More

Paul had an encounter with God on the road to Damascus and it drastically changed his life. Paul says in verse seven, that all of his accomplishments (his resume) he would count all things but loss. In other words nothing mattered except knowing Christ. He realized that Christ was his resume. He counted his resume as dung (verse 9). Paul could have used his resume as a means to promote his self, but he did not. He allowed Christ to take care of his needs and to worry about what church or people He spoke to. Because he relied on God, instead of self. Paul became the greatest apostle that ever lived, and he wrote the majority of the New Testament. All of those things would not have happened had he relied upon his resume, instead of God.

Just because a man graduates from seminary does not mean that he has arrived spiritually. There are many men who have great resume's who are not preaching the truth. They have been leading people astray by preaching things that are tickling people's ears. I have graduated from seminary, but I do not boast in my resume nor do I boast in myself. I boast in my Savior, and him alone. I am his ambassador in chains. He will be my provider and he will provide the churches for me to preach. My hope is built in nothing less then Jesus' blood and righteousness! Apart from Christ, I am nothing!

Christians at the Crossroads

2010-03-03T19:58:00.000-08:00

My Brothers and Sisters in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ , I write this exhortation to you to tell you that we are at a crossroads in this country. First and foremost our obligation is to God and to his law, for God's law supersedes man's law. It is our duty as fellow Americans to stand up for the rights that our forefathers fought for. We have forgotten for the most part what it is like to be nation that is totally dependent on God. I urge every Christian, every Preacher and every Politician that claims to know Christ to stand up for God's Holy Word even when it is not considered politically correct. When will the church wake up and become the bold and victorious saints that God wants us to be. We tell ourselves that we can not make a difference, and so we sit around and society becomes more sinful, and yet the church does not shout at the rooftops thus saith the Lord. I urge you to consider the twelve apostles who were ordinary men, but when they truly sold out for the cause of Christ, God took twelve ordinary men and did extraordinary things through them. People, we are not of this world. We are not to buy into the world's philosophies or the world's ways of doing things.

There is a war going on and Satan and his demonic minions are attacking the church and attacking the Church through the deception of compromise. God's people are told time and time again that their best life is not now, but the best life in reality is yet to come. God said that if we proclaim the name of Christ we will go through tribulation and we will have opposition come our way. Satan may use people to try to cause dissension in the church, but remember that the person is not the enemy but the Devil himself is the enemy. Christians in America for the most part have become mediocre at best when it comes to walking with the Lord Jesus Christ. They want to hear about God only when it is convenient for them to hear it. They want to hear things that tickle the ear, instead of hearing about the truth that brings conviction and brokenness in one's life. The Church needs revival. What I mean by that is that the church needs a revival of repentance. Christians need to remember that they were once sinners doomed for hell and that God rescued them for the pits of hell and declared them righteous. Christians need to surrender and die to self. That is the only way for the Church to have true revival. Why were people like Paul and Peter so fired up for Jesus? The answer is that Jesus was their only love and they did not forget that love. I challenge the Church of God to return back to their first love. Return to Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith.

For the most part we do not experience persecution the way some people do. But my question is when negative circumstances or persecution come our way how are we as a Church and as Christians going to respond? Are we going to throw in the towel (which is what Satan wants) or are we going to say that even though tyrants may rule us in our present circumstances and even though the Devil might hurl arrows in our way are we going to stand for our God no matter what. I pray that the answer would be the latter. I submit that if we as a church and we as a people individually are not experiencing attack from Satan in some form or fashion then there is something wrong. The Devil is not going to fool with Christians who are content in their worldly lifestyles and are not making an impact for the Kingdom of God. Instead, the Devil is going to focus on the ones that are making an impact for the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you are someone on facebook that is experiencing attack from Satan, I tell you to keep on living for God because the Devil would not be bothering you if you were not living right in the eyes of the Lord. So I tell my fellow believers, I tell the Pastors, I tell the Politicians to not quit when adversity comes your way. For we learn the most about life when we are in the valleys, rather than on the mountaintops. If we must suffer for our Lord Jesus Christ may we do so with joy in our hearts and with the peace of God that passes all understanding. So as I close this brief word that Almighty God has laid on my heart may I leave you with these verses from the book of James: My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse trials, Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect (spiritually mature) and entire, wanting nothing.

Hell, Fire and Brimstone

2010-03-03T13:54:00.001-08:00

I write this message to tell you that even though people live their lives as if the grave is their final resting place, the grave is not the final resting place. For humanity there is only two places that one can go. They are Heaven and Hell. In this message I am going to talk about the latter, the place of the wicked, the place called Hell. Many people believe Hell does not exist. In fact Charles Darwin said that the idea that there is a literal Hell is a damnable doctrine, and that he hated anyone who preached the doctrine of Hell. I guess he would hate me because I do believe in a literal Hell and I believe many people in this world are heading there. It is not a place that anyone would want to go, yet people every day live life in such a way that they do not think anything bad will happen to them. After all, God is a loving God and surely He would not send anyone to Hell. That is a misconception that I wish to address, and I will use the Word of God in addressing that misconception.

We will begin in Luke Chapter 16. Luke 16:19-31 describes two men. One of them went to heaven and the other went to hell. The first man I want to discuss is the rich man. The Bible describes this rich man as a man who was clothed in purple and fine linen. He was also described as a man who fared sumptuously every day. He had everything he ever wanted while he was on this earth. He had money, he had prosperity, and he was well known in the streets. It is quite possible that he was a leader within the community in which he lived. He probably was married and probably had several kids. He probably had many friends while on this earth. This man lived as if his best life was now. He did not give any thought about eternity. The Bible says in verse 22 of Luke 16 that the rich man died, and he was buried. The next verse tells the reader that there is most definitely a hell. Verse 23 says that in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torments. The first thing I want you to notice is that the Bible says he was tormented. Some people think that they are going to hell and it is going to be one big party. My friends, how ignorant can a man be to think that! Torment is defined as a state of extreme pain or anguish of body or mind. In fact the rich man who went to hell was so tormented that he asked for just one drop of water. Imagine how hot it is on a hot summer day. I know how refreshing it is after cutting the grass in that heat to have some ice cold water.

My friends, in hell there will be no water. In fact in verse 24, the rich man says that he was tormented in the flame. Ever burned yourself on a oven before while you were cooking. It hurts does it not. In hell there will be a never ending flame. It will roast your body for all eternity and there will be no relief. The flame will never flicker, and it will never go out. People that are there are screaming in anguish for all eternity and there is nothing that they can do to stop it. There is no such thing as annihilation as some teach. If you reject Christ while on this earth, and you die in your sins then you will go to this horrible place called hell and there will be no relief. It will be the worst pain you ever felt in your life. The mind can not begin to comprehend how horrible it will be.

The next thing I want to share is that not only will the pain be awful, but the most horrible thing of all is that a person there will be separated from God forever. I can not imagine how horrible that will be. There will be memory as well in hell. People will remember that person who witnessed to them and they will wish that they could go back and accept Christ but it will be too late. My friend today is the day of salvation. Do not wait another day. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. If you were to leave your house and then a car was to hit you, are you sure that you would go to heaven. Do not be as the rich man was. He was wealthy, he was prosperous, he had it all while on this earth. But that does not mean anything in the great scheme of things. The Bible says what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but to lose his soul in hell. I do not know why anyone would want to reject God’s gift of salvation, especially those who have heard it time and time again. My friend, I believe that judgment for someone who has went to church for all their life and heard the truth time and time again will be greater than the person who has not heard the gospel. I beg you, do not reject Christ today. Softly and Tenderly Jesus is calling, He is calling for you to be born again into the family of God. Do not continue to reject Him.

There is one other man I want to tell you about and that is the poor man Lazarus. Lazarus did not have anything while on this earth. The only visible friend he had on this earth were the dogs who licked his sores. I mean he went through many trials and tribulations while he was on this earth. When people walked by him they would say get away from me beggar. The fact of the matter is that he probably was dirty, he probably had rags for clothes and he probably stunk because he probably did not take a bath very often. Lazarus only ate the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Many people would say that he lived a horrible life. Oh but my friend that is only part of the story. When he died he went to Abraham’s bosom which is Paradise. You might be like Lazarus. Perhaps you do not have much in this life. Perhaps, you do not have many visible friends. But you do have Jesus living in your life, and when you have Jesus you have everything. The choice is yours. You can choose Jesus or you can choose the Devil. Do not think that just living a good life or by doing good things can get you to Heaven. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse you from all your sins.

Satan and his Demons are Real!

2010-03-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

It seems that interest in Satan and the demonic ripples through history the way concentric circles ripple from a stone thrown into a pond. For decades we hear nothing about Satan; it's almost as if he did not exist. Then, a movie, a book, a lecturer or someone or something else bursts on the scene and there is a fascination with the devil that invariably spawns copycat movies, books and lectures. I sometimes wonder whether Satan is happier with the anonymity, so he can secretly go about his deceitful work, or with the notoriety, so he can bask in the sinful pride which first brought upon his downfall.
Generally speaking, Christians make one of two mistakes about Satan. Sometimes we treat him as a weakling, a non-existent enemy or a silly but innocuous little devil in a red suit. I feel quite certain Satan is content with these misconceptions; it makes his work so much easier. On the other hand, sometimes we become so taken back with Satan, so intrigued by the demonic, that we can think of nothing else. We become Satan-hunters rather than Spirit-followers. When we do, our focus on a lost world and our responsibility to glorify God is skewed and Satan's work is made so much easier.
Once asked what was important to keep in mind about Satan, I replied, His past is shady,his present is sneaky, and his future is shaky. In dealing with the Devil we must have a clear understanding of who he is, what he wants, and what is in his future. We need to be aware of the devil's devices so that we can defeat him in battle. And most of all, Christians need a strategy for dealing with the devil and to know the rules of engagement.
During the 21st century we are witnessing the dumbing down of the church. That is, Christians are becoming less and less able to withstand the fiery darts of the wicked one. We need to pray more than ever right now. The battle is real. We need to prepare for the battle. Present yourself to the Commander-in-Chief. And be encouraged; the war is real, but the outcome is certain.

Wilt Thou Be Made Whole

2010-02-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

Missional Living

2010-02-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

Being a Christian who is committed to Missional Living is not something that can be taken lightly. God wants people to be faithful in the Great Commission and proclaim the gospel to the people groups of the world. God has a heart for the unreached people groups of the world, and his desire is that people groups from all nationalities will give Him the worship and exaltation that He deserves. I read John Piper's book Let the Nations be Glad and reading that book gave me more of a heart for missions than never before. I realized that if I give the Lord the proper respect He deserves, then God can use me and others as a vessel to the world.

Life is a war. Everyday is a constant struggle. In this world, Christians will face tribulation and opposition in ministry. Evangelizing the lost is something that has to be a lifelong commitment. It is not something that can be done overnight. Evangelizing is not an option, it is a command. Sometimes, we as a Church fail at witnessing to people like we should. People everyday are dying without Christ and everyday people are going to hell. My job is to do my best with the help of God through prayer to witness to these people so that God can rescue these people from Hell. People who have never heard about Jesus can not be saved because it takes that person knowing about Jesus and the redemptive work he did for them in order for there to be any decision made for Christ. Piper says “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more (pg.17)". By no means am I saying that missions is not important.

When people worship God the way they should, then missions will be an overflow of worship.When people exalt God the way that they are supposed to then missions will be a result of worshiping God. People who will worship God will want to be involved in missions. That is the purpose of missions. The purpose is to exalt almighty God, and in doing so missions will be empowered and the people groups of the world will come to know Jesus as their personal Savior. However if God is not exalted,missions will not be effective and will not produce any spiritual fruit.

When we are doing God's will and we are focused on reaching people groups for Christ we will experience opposition and even suffering in life. In this life there is going to be suffering. Suffering is inevitable for every believer at some point in time. There are six reasons why God appoints suffering for His servant and they are the following: Suffering deepens faith and holiness, suffering makes your cup increase, suffering is the price of making others bold, suffering fills up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions, suffering enforces the missionary command to go, and the supremacy of Christ is manifest in suffering. All of these reasons shows that although there will be pain involved in the Christian life, there are rewards for those who endure to the end.

There are three questions that are crucial for the missionary task of the Christian church and they are the following: Will anyone experience eternal conscious torment under God’s wrath? Is the Work of Christ necessary? Is conscious faith in Christ necessary? These are all questions that are of the utmost importance.When it comes to the first question, the answer is that Hell will be a place of unending torment. The torment experienced in Hell will last forever. When it comes to the second question, the answer is that Christ’s shed blood is necessary for the atonement of sins. When Christ died he died for everyone. The “point here is the universality of the work of Christ. (123)” All people are under the power of sin if they are lost and can not say anything when it comes time for the judgment. According to the Word of God, the problem of sin is universal, cutting people off from God. The solution to that problem is the atoning death of the Son of God offered once for all. The final question is answered by stating that people can not come to Jesus without hearing the gospel preached to them. According to the book, people who have never heard about Jesus can not be saved because it takes that person knowing about Jesus and the redemptive work he did for them in order for there to be any decision made for Christ.

God wants people from every nationality to get saved and come to know Him personally. It is our job to tell others about Jesus. It is our responsibility to carry out the Great Commission. We all need to have a mindset for Missional Living.

Wake Up Church! (Romans 13:11-12)

2010-02-27T20:58:00.000-08:00

Romans 13:11-12- And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Wake Up Church of the Living God! I write this exhortation to tell you that it is time for the Church to arise out of its slumber. It is time for the Church to let their candle burn bright again in a lost and dying world. While the world becomes more and more inherently evil, the Church needs to realize that our redemption draws nigh, and we as a Church need to be about doing the Lord's business and laboring for the King so that when He does return, he will not find us lax and apathetic towards the things of God.

The Church of the Living God has been duped by the demonic doctrines of hyper Calvinism and hyper Pragmatism. What I mean by hyper Calvinism is the belief that God predestined the elect (saved people) before the foundation of the world and that since they are predestined to heaven there is no way for them to turn from irresistable grace. On the other hand, God predestines some people to go to Hell and there is nothing that they can do to change their eternal destination because God already predestined it before the foundation of the earth. This particular idea is heresy, but nevertheless it is spreading in the churches of America at a unprecedented rate. What is so appalling about this particular aspect of Hyper-Calvinism is the fact that it teaches that some people from the moment they were born are damned to Hell and there is nothing they can do to change their destination! Oh, but I have good news for you. The Bible says that God would have none perish but that all might come to everlasting life. Focus on the word ALL. That is clear that God wants all of humanity (that includes every man, woman, boy and girl that has existed or ever will exist) to be saved, and to experience everlasting life. The fact of the matter is that God created us with a free will. People have the choice of whether to accept what he did on Calvary, or people can reject what he did on Calvary. God wants us to choose to love him. If we did not have a choice or a free will then we would be no better than robots.

There is also a heretical doctrine spreading known as Hyper-Pragmatism. Pragmatism says that if it feels right then it is okay to do. The truth is that every man thinks he is right in his own eyes. Pragmatism is currently sweeping through the Churches at an astonishing rate. Many Churches are compromising their convictions in order to appease the flesh. Many Churches are using the methodologies of the world and are in effect saying it is okay to use the world and the world system in order to keep people entertained and keep people happy. Folks the truth of the matter is that this whole idea of collaborating with the world is heresy and has no place in the Church of America. Churches have become so worldly and they have bought into the idea of pragmatism and the sad truth about it is they don't even know it. When a evangelical Church in this country is playing secular songs in the pulpit there is something wrong. Not too long ago a evangelical Church played the AC/DC song I am on a Highway to Hell. The sad truth about it is that many people in that Church is probably really on the highway to Hell. It is so sad to see the Churches in America for the most part become so apathetic and become so duped by demonic doctrines. It is obvious that they are not reading the same Bible that I read. The Bible clearly states in 1st John to love not the world neither the things that are in the world. The Bible clearly tells the Church that we are not citizens of this world. We are pilgrims and sojourners passing through.

We must never expect the Lord to bless a church that is duped by these doctrines. We must never expect God to bless a church that is full of proud and conceited people. God will only start to bless the Church of the Living God when it is humbled to the dust under a sense of its own shortcomings. When the Church does this then God will look upon the Church with mercy. God blesses his people when they begin to pray, as well as when they confess their sins. The prayer is urgent, humble, and believing; therefore, it has to speed to the throne of God. "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us". These agonizing desires will be part of the mourning of a Church that is conscious of having lost the blessing from God when the entire Church is interceding with urgency and persistence.

Prayer is the best resort of an earnest people. I can testify to this. In my church (Second Baptist Church), we have had prayer meetings in which everyone has been stirred, much as the trees of the forest are moved in the wind, and afterward the presence of God has always been manifested by conversion of souls. Our best times of prayer have always been followed by joyful harvests of new believers. Churches everywhere must be prayerful, intensely so, or else they cannot expect that the sound of abundant rain will be heard throughout their land.

I call on the church to awake, to confess their sin, to awake to struggle in prayer for the souls of men. The the Lord God will visit us from on high. Come Holy Spirit, and rouse your slumbering people Stir up the lazy multitude of believers, for when Your power is felt, then the bright day of triumph has dawned upon us.

The Truth about Rick Warren and The Purpose Driven Life

2010-02-26T22:30:00.000-08:00

Before I begin, I want to say that what I am about to say will have opposition. Some people will agree with what I am about to say and some will vehemently disagree. I am writing this because I believe that many evangelicals have read the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. This book at one time was the most popular book in America. It was promoted by well known evangelical leaders such as Max Lucado, Billy Graham, and Bruce Wilkinson. Sales soared into the millions and the church became fascinated with the Purpose Driven Life. It has now became one of the best selling books of all time. Churches all over America have adopted the 40 days of purpose and the book gave Rick Warren worldwide recognition. Many churches have had seminars and went through the Purpose Driven Life. With that being said I want to warn the church that are many deficiencies in Warren's theology that need to be pointed out. My goal is not to label Warren as a heretic, but to warn people that the Purpose Driven Life is not what it claims to be, nor should it be applauded as a book that will dramatically change your life in 40 days.

The first thing I want to point out is that Warren's style promotes a casual approach to Scripture. At first glance, Warren's initial claim sounds great. Warren states that " the best way to explain God's purpose for your life is to allow the Scripture to speak for itself, so in this book the Bible is quoted extensively(11)." However, after further examination, it is this writer's opinion that Warren pulls passages completely out of context and applies them however he sees fit. In seminary, I have learned that there are two primary methods of interpreting Scripture: The Allegorical Method or the Literal Method also known as the Grammatical-Historical Method. The whole idea of the Allegorical Method is simply to find some hidden spiritual meaning within the text or the passage. There are four dangers to this method: 1.)It does not interpret the words of Scripture, 2.) The basic authority in interpretation ceases to be the words of Scripture and becomes the mind of the interpreter, 3.) There is not an objective test to determine which interpretation is correct, and 4.) If used consistently, the method could destroy all systematic systematic understanding of doctrine. Warren in some cases uses the allegorical method of interpreting Scripture and thus takes the clear meaning and comes up with his own spiritual meaning.

For example on page 19, Warren cites Matthew 16:25 from the Message(I do not endorse the Message) paraphrase ("Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self"). Warren argues that in order to be successful in life, you need more than self help advice. The literal translation of Matthew 16:25 tells you that Christ is not talking about self-help advice in this context but rather Christ is referring to the regenerating nature of the Gospel(KJV:For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it"). By not giving the literal context of the verse, Warren changes the meaning of Jesus' statement. On page 139, Warren states that " God has made an incredible promise about small groups of believers: For where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst(Matt 18:20). The truth is that the context of that verse has nothing to do with small-group fellowship, but instead it deals with church discipline.

It does not take long to realize that the way he interprets Scripture is headed towards disaster. Using his method of interpretation, Warren sets a dangerous example- implying that his type of interpretation (where accuracy and context seem to be ignored) is acceptable.

Secondly, Warren's book promotes an incomplete approach to theology. For example, on page 58-59 Warren says concerning the presentation of the gospel that a person should " First, believe, Believe God loves you and made you for His purposes. Believe you're not an accident. Believe you were made to last forever. Believe God has chosen you to have an relationship with Jesus, who died on the cross for you. Believe that no matter what you've done, God wants to forgive you. Second, receive. Receive Jesus into your life. Receive His Spirit, who will give you the power to fulfill your life purpose. The Bible says," Whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! Wherever you are inviting this, I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity: Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you." Go ahead. If you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations! Welcome to the family of God! You are now ready to start living and discovering God's purpose for your life.

Although Warren, focuses on many aspects of Scripture, he leaves something out. His gospel presentation leaves out two important elements that are essential to salvation: repentance and self-denial. Also absent is the eternal consequences of sin. Warren's gospel presentation is inadequate because it leaves out those important elements. Although, Warren does mention Hell, he does so passively, without emphasizing the gravity of eternal condemnation.In the words of Bob DeWaay, DeWaay states that " Warren's explanation of God leaves out many important truths and emphasizes those qualities that make God feel close and safe. This does not result in a full, biblical understanding of God. You will never hear about God's wrath against sin from Warren. You will never hear the warnings about God's coming judgment.You will not learn about God's holiness from Warren. You will not hear passages like this: " See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from Heaven" (Hebrews 12:25). In other words,Warren's portrayal of God is not complete. Yes, God is a loving, and caring God, but He is also perfectly holy, just, and righteous.

The third problem is that Warren's book has an inflated position of prominence. It seems that some people within the evangelical community has promoted the book to a position of prominence that should only be reserved for the Word of God. Bob Dewaay says, that " Rick Warren's eleven million and rising best seller has replaced Bible preaching in thousands of pulpits and has replaced the Bible in many thousands of Bible study groups.... The amazing thing is that thousands and thousands of groups around the world have taken Warren's advice( I strongly urge you to gather a small group of friends and form a Purpose-Driven Life Reading Group to review these chapters on a weekly basis"(pg307) and began studying his book, leaving their Bibles at home. Pastor's are preaching from Warren's material rather than the Word of God. Warren also says, "After you have gone through this book together as a group, you might consider studying other purpose driven life studies that are available for classes and groups. The message of the gospel has been replaced by the methods of Rick Warren. The Bible has been supplanted by the methods of man." Anytime, a book supplants the Word of God there is a problem and that is exactly what Warren's book has done in many churches.

Warren also says in page nine of the book that "This is more than a book; it is a guide to to a 40 day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life's most important question: What on earth am I here for? By the end of this journey you will know God's purpose for your life and will understand the big picture- how all the pieces of your life fit together. Having this perspective will reduce your stress, simplify your decisions, increase your satisfaction, and, most importantly, prepare you for eternity". WAIT A MINUTE!!! This book seems to suggest that a invention of the flesh can do what only the Spirit of God can do. This book is not the Word of God. It is not infallible. This was book was written by an fallible human being who certainly can not promise you anything.

Finally Warren's book the Purpose Driven Life promotes the seeker-sensitive movement. The seeker- sensitive church tends to minimize the gospel message in order to soften topics such as sin, repentance, divine, wrath, and eternal damnation.The goal is to make people feel comfortable until they are ready to accept Jesus.Thus sermons are often replaced with short talks, skits, secular music- anything that will make church more entertaining and more comfortable. Success is measured by the number of people in church. True Biblical success, however is measures by faithfulness and obedience to God. Churches should never compromise and buy into the world system just to get a large crowd. Preachers who have faithfully preached the Word for years but can not draw a large crowd are told that they must be doing something wrong. That is completely absurd!

In conclusion, by embracing the Purpose Driven Life, some readers and some churches have become entangled in the seeker-sensitive movement and embrace postmodern thought. Simply put, the seeker-sensitive movement promoted by Rick Warren, is unbiblical. So after reading this, I hope that I have shed some light on the Purpose Driven Life and the ministry of Rick Warren. Is he a heretic? That is for you to decide through studying the Word of God. The Bible does say that in the last days false prophets will arise, and they will deceive many. When the Word of God is watered down just so people's ears can be tickled, there is a problem. So practice discernment, and realize that not everything you hear is truth.

Demons Are Real

2010-02-26T22:02:00.000-08:00

We all know that Satan has a definite plan. He invisible and very powerful. Therefore, we must make ourselves aware of his schemes. His method is deception and his target is the mind of man. He desires to see the unsaved damned, He further desires to see the saved defeated. To withstand the enemy we must have our minds filled with the Word of God. The importance of this is extremely increased because Satan has a host of helpers, referred to as demons, working with him in his unholy pursuit for the minds of men. Let me caution you before we go any further.

We need to understand what the Word of God has to say about these evil companions of the devil. To help you understand the powers of darkness, it will be the purpose of this message to present to you a Demon Diagram. Let us consider first of all consider the demon's master. You may learn much about a person by knowing whom he follows. The demon's leader is mentioned as the prince of the devils (demons). He is also known as Beelzebub. Different meanings are attached to this name: Lord of flies, Lord of dung, Lord of habitation, or Lord (Beel) of dung (zebub). The term zebub comes from a root which has the shade of meaning to dangle and move back and forth. Could this, when connected with the idea of habitation, have anything to do with demonic possession taking place as a charm or amulet being dangled back and forth to put one in a hypnotic state? You decide! The significance of the title is clear when we consider the filthiness of dung and the torment and spread of disease and germs of the fly. Flies can affect and infect all sorts of people. So can Satan. No one is immune to him.

Speaking the Truth in Love

2010-02-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

I speak the truth in love, but I do so boldly! Some people might say that I am a narrow minded fundamentalist and the truth is I am a fundamentalist. God can not tolerate sin. There are certain things that I can not tolerate. I can not tolerate abortion and I can not tolerate same sex relations. The truth is that when I sin or when you sin I can assure you that God is not pleased with it. God's ultimate goal for a individual is to restore, not to condemn. However, God can not look on sin and there are certain things that God says are an abomination to Him. As far as America goes, America has become a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. Consider that almost everything in society is geared towards pleasure and feeding the flesh. Most churches (not all) will not preach on sin anymore. They will not stand up for righteousness and proclaim what the Word of God says about how people should live in society. Understand that the moment we were born into this world we were corrupt. Our righteousness are as filthy rags. Our works could never be good enough to deserve Heaven. Only the blood of Jesus can save a soul from Hell. The Bible says that broad is the way that leads to destruction and many will take that road. On the other hand, narrow is the road that leads to everlasting life and few will find it. When a person is saved, he or she has become a new creature. In fact the Word of God says that we are pilgrims and sojourners passing through. That means that we are separate from the World. We are a peculiar people. That does not mean that we isolate ourselves from society. It means that we let our light so shine before men that they will see that there is something different about us, and they will want what we have. Sooner or later if Christians began to tolerate one another, then no one will be able to tell us apart from the world.

True Biblical Unity

2010-02-18T21:28:00.000-08:00

When thinking about true biblical unity I came across a quote made by Charles Spurgeon and I feel it is important that I share this with the Body of Christ. Charles Spurgeon said, " The best way to promote unity is to promote truth. It will not do for us to be all united together by yielding to one another's mistakes. We are to love each other in Christ, but we are not to be so united that we are not able to see each other's faults, and especially not able to see our own. No, purge the House of God and then shall grand and blessed times of unity dawn upon us." This quote was given in Charles Spurgeon's sermon entitled the Importance of Small Things in Religion.

Let Him Who Hath A Ear, Let Him Hear

2010-02-13T12:31:00.000-08:00

Revelation 2:7 says, Let him who hath a ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. There are two types of hearers. The first is the man who hears and takes action. In this case, the man hears the Word of God and then the man takes action! He not only talks the talk, but he walks the walk. The second is a man who hears but does not take action! Sadly, if we really think about the majority of men in our community and in our nation, the fact is we as men for the most part are not taking action. We are not making a difference for Jesus! If we as men truly want revival in this nation and in our community, then we are going to have to die to self. True Revival will not happen unless a person dies to self, and listens to the Holy Spirit and then takes action. We are on the verge of revival! Imagine what God could do now and in the future if men in our community would sell out for Jesus and leave the things of the world behind. The world would never be the same again!